PUBLICation - Spring 2016 by Pittsburgh Public Theater

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ation

Spring 2016

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F P I T T S B U R G H P U B L I C T H E AT E R

From the words and works of Truman Capote

Spring at The O’Reilly Meet a reckless genius and a vengeful goddess in The Public’s APRIL 21 through MAY 22

bold season closers.

by Jay Presson Allen directed by Ted Pappas It’s 1975 in the Manhattan apartment of Truman Capote. Although celebrated for books such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, his recent piece in Esquire magazine has dropped like a bomb on New York society. The article

“Seriously smart and very funny.”

exposes secrets about his glamorous friends and, to his surprise, they are furious. This one-man play catches Tru at his turning point. PRODUCTION SPONSOR Randi Dauler in memory of L. Van V. Dauler, Jr.

JUNE 2– 26 by David Ives directed by Jesse Berger

— The New York Times

A stage director anxiously searches for the perfect leading lady. An aspiring actress careens into the audition room, causing havoc and confusion. But in the course of an evening, while a storm rages outside, the erotic seduction of power takes center stage and the rules of domination are forever reversed. Don’t bring the children!

IN THIS ISSUE

The engagement of Jesse Berger as director of Venus in Fur has been generously underwritten by The Audrey Hillman Fisher Foundation.

The Truman Show

4. Become a FAN

7. Hey Venus

Pittsburgh, PA Permit #1989 PITTSBURGH PUBLIC THEATER at the O’Reilly Theater 621 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222

PAID Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

E V E RY T H I N G Y O U H E A R D I S “ T R U ”

Tru Blue Brilliant writer Truman Capote steadily ascended a gilded ladder of success. His first stumble came in 1975, when Jay Presson Allen’s play, TRU, begins.

Truman Capote

Acclaimed actor Eddie Korbich stars as Truman Capote in TRU. He has appeared in 10 Broadway productions, most recently A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Mr. Korbich’s other Broadway credits include Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Carousel, A Christmas Story, The Little Mermaid, The Drowsy Chaperone, After the Night and the Music, Wicked, Seussical, and Sweeney Todd. TRU will be his Pittsburgh Public Theater debut.

AT QUITE A YOUNG AGE, Truman Capote decided three things: He wanted to be rich, he wanted to be famous, and he wanted to be a writer. He realized his goals beyond most people’s wildest dreams.

In 1948, at age 23, his first novel was published. It was both critically acclaimed and created a huge buzz. The book’s full back cover featured a photograph of Capote, a beautiful slip of a young man, stylishly dressed and reclining on a couch, challenging the camera with big eyes from under a fringe of blond hair. If the picture were taken today, it would go viral. It made him a star. In the mid-60s, the release of In Cold Blood made him a millionaire. From then on he partied more than he published, jetting around the world with A-list celebrities and appearing on television talk shows. Capote kept promising a novel called Answered Prayers, which he said would be his masterwork. But it never appeared. In 1975, however, he allowed Esquire magazine to print a portion of the unfinished work. The excerpt dished the dirt about the rich and powerful in his circle, salaciously naming names and telling all. Capote thought his friends would be amused; instead they were horrified. Shocked by this reaction, he says in TRU: “I am an artist. And people like that who cozy up to artists do so at their own risk.”

Many of his early works recall life in Monroeville. These include his first two novels, the largely autobiographical coming of age tale, Other Voices, Other Rooms, and The Grass Harp. His poignant story, “A Christmas Memory,” which is now a holiday classic, features a character based on his beloved elderly cousin from Monroeville, Sook, whom he talks about in TRU. Capote’s best friend growing up in Alabama was Harper Lee. When she later wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, she based the character, Dill Harris, on Capote. In Other Voices, Other Rooms, Idabel is modeled after Lee. Capote had an abrupt reversal of fortune when his mother divorced, remarried, and brought him to live in New York. Although he never finished high school, at age 17 he landed a low-level job at The New Yorker magazine. He was fresh and beyond bright, unconventional yet full of Southern charm, and mixing it up with the Manhattan smart set. In 1958 he would write a novella set during this time in his life. He called it Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and its main character, Holly Golightly, is his most enduring creation.

From Monroeville to Manhattan

From Murder to Social Suicide

Capote’s upbringing prepared him for scandal. He was born in New Orleans in 1924, but his wild parents sent him to live with relatives in Monroeville, Alabama.

But by 1959, Capote was tired of fictional characters. He said he wanted to produce a journalistic work, “Something that would have the credibility of fact, the immediacy of film, the depth and freedom of prose, and the precision of poetry.” What resulted was In Cold Blood, a “non-fiction novel” that related the

murders of a Kansas farm family, the hunt for the killers, and their trial and execution. A short blurb about the brutal crime in the New York Times caught Capote’s attention and, accompanied by Harper Lee, he went to Kansas to investigate. Capote eventually worked for six years on the book and its release in January of 1966 caused an immediate sensation. It was hailed for pioneering the true crime genre as well as for being a superbly written work of art. Sales went through the roof. It is understandable that after the physical and emotional strain of writing In Cold Blood, Capote would want to rest on his laurels. He was the toast of the literary crowd, rolling in money, and sought-after on the social scene. In November of 1966, he gave his famous Black and White Ball for nearly 500 internationally elite guests. But 1966 would end up being Capote’s zenith. In the years following, his writing took a back seat to his indulgence in lunches, dinners, late nights and traveling with his high society pals, mostly elegant women, who were known as his “swans.” The most important to him among these bold-faced names, the ones he considered his true friends, were Babe Paley and Slim Keith. And these were the people he hurt the most when the chapter from Answered Prayers, called “La Côte Basque,” appeared in Esquire in 1975. It was said that he committed social suicide by publishing the story. Paley and Keith never spoke to him again. When we meet Capote in TRU, only a month has passed since the release of “La Côte Basque,” and he believes he can still make things right. He tells the audience about his plans. But things would never really be good for the writer again. Although he lived for another nine years (he died at age 59 in 1984), his abuse of alcohol and drugs left him ill, and although rarely alone, still lonely. Capote’s Answered Prayers— never completed — turned out to be a curse that caused the downfall of this singular genius. P

FOR TICKETS CALL

412.316.1600 OR ORDER ONLINE PPT.ORG

TRU PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

JUST A REMINDER 7pm start time for all Tuesday shows.

TICKET PRICES Ticket prices start at $25 Students and age 26 and younger $15.75 (see back cover for more about discounts)

P – Preview

TGIF – Post-show music

D – Donut Saturday

O – Opening

SF – Sunday Forum

FOR TICKETS CALL

412.316.1600 OR ORDER ONLINE PPT.ORG

TGIF —Friday, April 22 Post-show in the lobby on Friday, April 22 will be Jared Wilson and The Vibe with songs ranging from the 50s to the modern pop era. Whether playing his “daddy” saxophone or the one he calls his “baby,” Jared’s tones are always smooth. He’ll be joined by pianist Howie Alexander II and drummer George Heid III, plus complimentary coffee from Starbucks and a cash bar.

Tru Story Writer After years of success among Broadway and Hollywood’s elite, Jay Presson Allen was the perfect person to capture Truman Capote’s essence for the stage. Jay Presson Allen started life in 1922 as Jacqueline Presson. She grew up to be fiercely intelligent, acerbically funny, and ahead of her time. When she began writing, she signed her name as Jay. After a childhood spent reading, going to movies and participating in school plays, Jacqueline left her small Texas hometown at age 18 to try her luck as an actress in New York. She didn’t care for the life, however, and quickly got married and moved to California. But the role of wife didn’t really suit her at this point, and she decided to “write her way out of marriage,” to gain financial independence. Ms. Allen went on to become one of the highest-paid screenwriters in Hollywood. But first came a novel, then some scripts for that new medium called television, then a play. She also married again, to Lewis M. Allen, and had a baby. Around this time, Ms. Allen met Alfred Hitchcock, who became her mentor. In 1964 she wrote the screenplay for his film, Marnie. “Hitch taught me more about screenwriting than I learned in all the rest of my career,” Ms. Allen has said.

She found even more success with her adaptation of Muriel Spark’s novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, for the stage. It premiered in London in 1966 starring Vanessa Redgrave; ran on Broadway with Zoe Caldwell, who received a Tony Award; and became a film with Maggie Smith, who won an Academy Award for her performance. Ms. Allen became known as a star-maker and was lauded for penning memorable roles, especially for women. In 1968 she adapted the French play, Forty Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Carats, about the relationship between an older woman and a younger man. On Broadway, Julie Harris received a Tony for her work in that show. Ms. Allen also wrote the screenplay for Cabaret, which featured Liza Minnelli’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Sally Bowles. Other screenplays by Ms. Allen include Funny Lady starring Barbra Streisand and several films with director Sidney Lumet, including Deathtrap, Prince of the City, and Just Tell Me What You Want (which was based on her second novel). Ms. Allen received two Oscar nominations for her work. After such a glittering career, Ms. Allen could pick and choose her projects. When the executors of Truman Capote’s estate offered her exclusive access to his letters and papers, she not only wrote the one-man show, TRU, but directed it as well. The play debuted at Broadway’s Booth Theatre in 1989 starring Robert Morse, who received a Tony Award for his performance. Ms. Allen was in her late 60s when she wrote TRU and continued working for many years, mainly as an uncredited script doctor. She died in 2006 at age 84. Known for endowing characters with depth and humor, ultimately the role she wrote for herself was the best of all. P

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Ms. Allen became known as a star-maker and was lauded for penning memorable roles.

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I T H U RT S S O G O O D

FUR FLIES David Ives’ play is a steamy cat-and-mouse game for dominance. Venus in Fur is one of the trickiest and kickiest plays you’ll ever see. Although it features only two performers, they switch between six roles, transforming in front of the audience’s eyes with only the tools from their actors’ bag of tricks.

The play takes place in a contemporary New York audition room, where director Thomas Novachek has been trying out young actresses for his stage adaptation of Leopold von SacherMasoch’s erotic novel from 1870, Venus in Furs (plural in the book’s title). The day is over, well Thomas thinks the day is over, and he hasn’t found his star. In fact, he’s decidedly unhappy with all he has seen. On the phone he tells his girlfriend: “Back in those days a woman of 24 would’ve been married. She’d have five kids and tuberculosis. She’d be a woman. Most women who are 24 these days sound like six-year-olds on helium.” But he’s about to meet a woman unlike any he’s ever encountered. After a huge clap of thunder, in walks Vanda Jordan, hours late for the audition and not even on the list. She is soaking wet from the rainstorm, ditzy, and manic. Not at all what Thomas has in mind. Vanda has brought along a studded dog collar, a leather skirt and a pair of kinky boots because, she says, “I mean it’s basically S&M right? The play?” Thomas disagrees: “Venus in Fur is a great love story,” he says. “It’s a serious novel. It’s a central text of world literature.” Vanda isn’t so sure, but eventually she convinces Thomas to read with her. After all, the character’s name is Vanda, too. With nothing more than a light change, engineered by Vanda, she and Thomas become Severin von Kushemski and Vanda von Dunayev. They are the pair of wealthy strangers who meet at a Carpathian health spa in Sacher-Masoch’s novel. Frau Dunayev has come to Herr Kushemski’s room to return a book he left in the garden by a statue of Venus. As the 19th century couple converse, Kushemski reveals the “innocent instant” from childhood that made him what he is. It’s about an aunt who threw him down on her cape of black fox fur and whipped him with a length of green birch. For Kushemski, that woman

“Venus with a Mirror” by Titian.

“Don’t we go to plays for passions we’re not getting in life?”

became “an avatar of the goddess of love herself.” Frau Dunayev shares her own secrets. She admits that she is a pagan who lives for pleasure. Soon she agrees to let Herr Kushemski become her slave. Between these highly charged scripted negotiations, Thomas and Vanda engage in their own sparring. Art and ethics, gender issues, lifestyle choices, sexual etiquette, rational thought against mysterious emotions that go beyond reason; back and forth they trade dominant and submissive positions of power. Ultimately it’s a steamy cat-and-mouse game for control. Who is the feline and who is the rodent is never in doubt. Known for Being Naughty

Although Leopold von Sacher-Masoch was a respected writer and progressive thinker in his day, he has the dubious distinction of having the word “masochist” named after him. While he wrote history and short stories in the Austrian Empire, he is remembered today mainly for his novel Venus in Furs, which revealed his sexual fetish for dominant women. In the play, David Ives didn’t make up the part about a contract being signed which made the man the woman’s slave. It happened in Sacher-Masoch’s real life, with his mistress Baroness Fanny Pistor. The legal document also stipulated that the Baroness wear fur as often as possible. Seventeen years after Venus in Furs was published, an Austrian psychiatrist coined the term “masochism” in his book Psychopathia Sexualis. He referred to Sacher-Masoch’s sexual anomaly, and said that up until Venus in Furs, the “perversion” was unknown to the scientific community.

—Thomas in Venus in Fur

While this 19th century doctor viewed the preference for submission and domination in sexual relationships as an anomaly, the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey seems to indicate that Sacher-Masoch was simply ahead of his time. Behind the Scenes

Beyond the sexual politics in the play and the play-within-the-play, David Ives takes audience members into a situation of dominance and submission they never have access to: the audition process. In fact, some of Venus in Fur’s funniest lines are about those with stage careers. “You don’t have to tell me about sadomasochism,” Vanda says. “I’m in the theater.” Unlike a romance where who’s in charge is up for grabs, there’s no question about who rules at an audition. “I can’t believe directors put actors through this,” Thomas says. But it was the shifts in power that attracted Ives to the novel, Venus in Furs. He thought the story was very dramatic and complex and found it to be naturally theatrical. He was in thrall of its operatic emotions. Audiences have agreed. The play premiered Off-Broadway at the Classic Stage Company in 2010 and moved to Broadway in 2011, where it was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. In 2013 it became a film directed by Roman Polanski. Ives has worked steadily in the theater since 1972. One of his most memorable plays is the frantic comedy, All in the Timing. His timing of Venus in Fur has turned out to be great, too. P

FOR TICKETS CALL

JUST A REMINDER

412.316.1600 OR ORDER ONLINE PPT.ORG

VENUS IN FUR PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

THE CAST OF

Venus in Fur

7pm start time for all Tuesday shows.

TICKET PRICES Ticket prices start at $25 Students and age 26 and younger $15.75 (see back cover for more about discounts)

Whitney Maris Brown Vanda

P – Preview

TGIF – Post-show music

D – Donut Saturday

O – Opening

SF – Sunday Forum

FOR TICKETS CALL

412.316.1600 OR ORDER ONLINE PPT.ORG

TGIF —Friday, June 3 Public Theater audiences loved Christine Laitta as Edith Frank in our season opener, The Diary of Anne Frank. After the show on Friday, June 3, patrons can see another side of this talented Pittsburgher when she sings show tunes, standards, and her favorite TV themes. Look for her in the lobby, accompanied by Jeff Lashway, complimentary coffee from Starbucks, and a cash bar.

Christian Conn Thomas

The Public is thrilled to welcome back Jesse Berger, who was last here to direct An Iliad. Jesse is the founder of Red Bull Theater in New York City, a company that takes its name from the famous London playhouse during Shakespeare’s time. Writing in the New York Times earlier this year, Charles Isherwood said of Jesse’s production of The Changeling: “The Red Bull Theater and its artistic director, Jesse Berger, once again win admiration for presenting a rarely seen drama from the Jacobean era with highly caffeinated verve.” Red Bull specializes in the Jacobean period, producing plays with heightened language and situations of extreme human behavior, often featuring violence, sex, ambition, and manipulation. He should be right at home directing Venus in Fur.

Yeah, Baby, She’s Got It lthough she’s more than a couple thousand years old, Venus is still the queen of all media. The Roman goddess (and her Greek counterpart, Aphrodite) was in charge of love, but not the warm and fuzzy kind people feel for kids and pets. Instead, Venus ruled hot and heavy physical attractions. Ancients who wanted a happy marriage and family life prayed to Hera, not Venus. But in the pop pantheon, it’s Venus who is worshipped. Musicians as different as Frankie Avalon and the Velvet Underground, Bananarama and Lady Gaga, have all made songs about her. Avalon, from a guy’s view, requested: Venus if you will/ Please send a little girl for me to thrill, while Bananarama, from a girl’s perspective, declared: I’m your Venus, I’m your fire. Artsy Lou Reed, writing for the Velvet Underground, referenced Sacher-Masoch’s novel, but Gaga kept it primal: I can’t help the way I’m feeling/Goddess of love, please take me to your leader/I can’t help but keep on dancing. For those who need more than the rhythm method, a phenomenally successful self-help book lured people in with the title, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Author John Gray wrote about communication between the sexes, and Marlene Dietrich could have used his advice in the 1932 movie Blonde Venus, where she lies to her husband in order to be with Cary Grant.

Top right: Marlene Dietrich as Blonde Venus. Right: Lady Gaga performs her song, “Venus,” in a Botticelliinspired costume.

More whimsical was the Kurt Weill musical, One Touch of Venus, about a statue of the goddess who comes to life and wreaks havoc with a man’s wedding plans. The 1943 Broadway hit later became a movie featuring Ava Gardner. More recent and more realistic was the 2006 film, Venus, which starred Peter O’Toole as a lusty old actor who desires his friend’s brash young grand-niece. While Venus is the brightest planet and the only one to be designated as female, the plant that shares her name is kind of scary. It’s the carnivorous Venus Flytrap, known for its flesh-eating diet. Now that’s tough love! P

P I T T S B U R G H P U B L I C T H E AT E R is grateful to the following

THE

BLACK and WHITE BALL

companies whose partnerships enable us to continue our efforts to produce exceptional theater and offer essential educational programming for the youth of our region. Together we have continued to produce works that inspire and delight! As of 3/4/16

A Gala Benefit For

Pittsburgh Public Theater

#1 Cochran

Kinder Morgan Foundation*

Bayer USA Foundation*

The Kraft Heinz Company

BDO, USA LLP

Levin Furniture*

BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania*

MARC USA Merrill Lynch

Bognar and Company, Inc.

Meyer, Unkovic & Scott, LLP

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC CCAC Educational Foundation

monday, May 9, 2016

Neville Chemical Company

Delta Air Lines

Oxford Development Company

Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote P.C. DICK’S Sporting Goods

Pittsburgh Valve & Fitting Company

Eat’n Park Hospitality Group* Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC

PNC* Reed Smith LLP

EQT Foundation*

600 Commonwealth Place

TICKETS START AT $500 For more information contact Jan Fleisher at 412.316.8200 ext. 706 or jfleisher@ppt.org.

PRESENTING SPONSORS

Pittsburgh Pirates Pittsburgh Steelers

Dollar Bank

Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Hotel

Neishloss & Fleming, Inc.

Rugby Realty Co., Inc.

Federated Investors Foundation, Inc.

Rycon Construction, Inc.

First National Bank

Salesforce

Giant Eagle Foundation

Schifino Design

Hefron-Tillotson, Inc.*

Sefas, Inc

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield

Triangle Tech Group

Highmark Health

UPMC and UPMC Health Plan

Huntington Bank*

Vision Benefits of America*

Jones Day

WTW Architects

*All or part of these companies’ contributions support The Public’s Education and Outreach Programs.

SPACE IS LIMITED FOR SUMMER 2016 YOUTH CLASSES! Making it Real (Grades 6 – 8) How does an actor make it real? How do you make an audience believe in you? Monday – Friday, 10 AM – 1 PM June 20 – 24

Shakespeare Intensive (Grades 9 – 12) Students approach Shakespeare from an actor’s perspective with class culminating in a performance of one of William Shakespeare’s works. Monday – Friday, 10 AM – 3PM July 11 – July 29 $400

Intro to Playwriting & Screenwriting (Grades 9 – 12) The basic tenets of playwriting and screenwriting are learned through intensive writing exercises.

EDUCATION PROGRAMS & CLASSES AT THE PUBLIC Congratulations to all participants in the 22nd annual Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest! Nearly 1300 students from more than 80 schools participated this year and 42 students moved on to the Showcase of Finalists held February 15th. A winner from each category was selected. Lower Monologue: Simon Nigam. Falk Laboratory School. The Merchant of Venice: Shylock.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10 AM – 1PM

Lower Scene: Will Sendera and Sophia Sousa. CAPA. Romeo and Juliet: Romeo and Juliet.

Improvisation (Grades 9 – 12)

June 20 – July 8

Upper Monologue: Sundiata Rice. CAPA. Henry V: Henry.

Theater games and challenging improv exercises unleash students’ natural creativity and humor.

$300

Upper Scene: Laela Lumsden and Anna Ungarino. Hope Academy. The Taming of the Shrew: Kate and Petruchio.

$275

Monday – Friday, 10 AM – 3PM June 27– July 1 $275

Scene Study (Grades 9 – 12)

All classes are held at the O’Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater’s home in the heart of Downtown’s Cultural District. Info: Contact the Education Department at 412.316.8200 x715 or kconaway@ppt.org. To enroll visit PPT.ORG/Education.

Sophia Sousa and Will Sendera, left, and Sundiata Rice, below.

This popular two-week workshop focuses on the actor’s character development, objectives, subtext and scene work.