Havel at Columbia
Core Presentation: Reading
The Garden Party, a play by Vaclav Havel, directed by Israel Horovitz
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In partnership with The Center for the Core Curriculum
Nov 12 3:00pm and 8:00pm Miller Theatre |
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The event podcast contains rehearsal footage with the entire cast taken the day of the two readings of The Garden Party .
Tom Riis Farrell (Director) Broadway/Off: Dirty Blonde; Arturo Ui; Wrong Mountain ; 1776 ; View of the Dome. Regional : Rag and Bone (Long Wharf); Once in a Lifetime (Williamstown). Film: Trust the Man , Stepford Wives , Almost Famous , Out-of-Towners , Devil's Advocate , Sleepless in Seattle , Scent of a Woman . Television: "NYPD Blue," "Spin City," "New York Undercover," "Law & Order," "Criminal Intent".
Matt Fischel (Clerk) recently played Hans Bethe for the Keen Company's In The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer . Regional: The Cherry Orchard , Measure for Measure , Waiting for Godot , and The Miser . T.V. : Several episodes of "Law & Order," most recently as Judge Paul Fillmore; and next season in an upcoming episode of "The Sopranos." Film: The Mercy Man, The Underdog and One Last Thing, all soon-to-be-released. Thank you Uta Hagen.
Jeff Galfer (Peter) was most recently seen Off-Broadway in The Squirrel at the Summer Play Festival. Television: "Law & Order," "Guiding Light," "All My Children," as well as commercial spots for Cingular and "The Ashlee Simpson Show." He holds an M.F.A. from A.C.T. and a B.S. from the University of Evansville. www.jeffgalfer.com
Dustin Hoffman (Falk) Hoffman caught the world's attention for his role as Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichol's Academy Award nominated film, The Graduate . Since then, he has been nominated for six more Academy Awards for diverse films such as Midnight Cowboy , Lenny , Tootsie (a film he also produced through his company, Punch Productions), and Wag the Dog . Hoffman won the Oscar in 1979 for his role in Kramer Vs. Kramer and again in 1988 for Rain Man .
His first stage role was in the Sarah Lawrence College production of Gertrude Stein's Yes is for a Very Young Man . This performance led to several roles Off Broadway, such as Journey of the Fifth Horse , for which he won the Obie, and Eh? , for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Best Actor. His success on stage caught the attention of Mike Nichols, who cast him in The Graduate . In 1969, Hoffman made his Broadway debut in Murray Schisgal's Jimmy Shine . In 1974, Hoffman made his Broadway directorial debut with Schisgal's All Over Town . In 1984, Hoffman garnered a Drama Desk Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Willy Loman in the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman which he also produced. Additionally, Hoffman received a Tony Award Nomination for his role as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice which he reprised from his long run on the London Stage.
Stephanie Jannsen (Amanda) Recent credits: Machiavelli (off B'way @ ArcLight Theatre), Israel Horovitz's The Secret of Mme. Bonnard's Bath (Gloucester Stage Company; upcoming @ Theatre Row Theatres, dir. Israel Horovitz), Mrs. Warren's Profession (Looking Glass), Museum (Keen Company). Workshops: New York Theatre Workshop. Regional: Guthrie Theatre. BA, Middlebury College. MFA, NYU Graduate Acting.
Robert Klein (Pludek) In March of 1965, he auditioned for the famous Chicago "Second City," became a member of the troupe, and there he spent the single most important year of his career. Klein returned to New York as a seasoned member of "Second City" and was seen by producer Mike Nichols and chosen for a role in his Broadway musical, Apple Tree . Klein was cast in two more Broadway shows, Morning, Noon and Night , and New Faces of 1968 . Probably no single event is more indicative of Klein's success than his first sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall in 1973, The First Annual Robert Klein Reunion . In 1979, Klein returned to Broadway in grand style with a Tony nomination for Best Actor, and a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in the hit musical, They're Playing Our Song , with Lucy Arnaz. In 1993, Klein starred in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig with Madeline Kahn and Jane Alexander. For Synthetic Animal Covering , Klein won both an Obie Award For Performance and The Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor. Klein's movie roles include Hooper , The Owl and the Pussycat , Rivals , The Landlord , The Bell Jar , Nobody's Perfekt , Dangerous Curves , and Tales From The Darkside: The Movie . Klein has recently appeared in Radioland Murders , Mixed Nuts , Jeffrey , One Fine Day , Suits , Next Stop Wonderland , Primary Colors , Goosed , Labor Pains , Two Weeks Notice , How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days , with Safety of Objects , and People I Know , with Al Pacino.
Carole Monferdini (Mrs. Pludek) Highlights include Full Gallop in New York & around the country, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom at the Provincetown Playhouse, OBIE award for performance in The Club at the Circle-in-the-Square, The Misanthrope with the National Theatre of G. Britain, lots of regional theatre and few films.
Kristine Nielsen (Secretary) Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire , The Greenbird , Jackie: An American Life , The Iceman Cometh . Theatre: Murderers at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Miss Witherspoon , Omnium-Gatherum , The Underpants , Based on a Totally True Story , The Wonder of the World , Betty's Summer Vacation (Obie Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Nomination), Machinal , Dog Opera (Obie Award), Guthrie Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Repertory, Baltimore Center Stage, Hartford Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, The Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Royal Alexander (Toronto). Film: The Savages , Small Time Crooks. T.V. : "Conviction", "Law & Order", "Law & Order: Criminal Intent", "Third Watch".
Christopher Randolph (Reader) Broadway: King Lear Lincoln Center Theatre. Off-Broadway includes: Dash MCC ; Hollywood Scheherazade Primary Stages; Clocks and Whistles - Origin Theatre Co. Regional: The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, St. Louis Rep, GeVa, The Odyssey, The Hudson; Chautauqua; among many others. Film: Convention; Pumpkin Hell ; Sunday Lunch ; TV: "Will & Grace"; "Mad About You"; "Newsradio"; various soaps. MFA : UCSD
Ben Shenkman (Hugo) Ben Shenkman played Louis in the HBO movie of Angels in America and Hal in the Broadway hit Proof . He's appeared regularly on the NY stage, most recently in Sight Unseen opposite Laura Linney, and in movies including next year's release Americanese and Helen Hunt's upcoming Then She Found Me .
Kevin Kennison (Casting Director): Independent casting director, freelance director and master acting teacher/coach. Based in New York, he has an extensive background in performing and directing, as well as producing. Five years casting for Broadway and National Tours for Disney Theatrical Productions, holding regional auditions in New York and around the country. Recent casting: Feature film, Exposed , RIP Fest Film Festival, off-Broadway's Lebensraum for Israel Horovitz, the Theatre Row Summer Play Festival (SPF), RIM Fest Musical Theatre Marathon, several backer's auditions of new musicals, including at the York and the Lion, and a regional Romeo and Juliet . Former faculty, Tisch School of the Arts, abd Phd NYU. Actoradvice.com.
Israel Horovitz (Director): Israel Horovitz's plays have been translated and performed, worldwide. Best known plays: Line (now in 33rd year, off-Broadway), The Indian Wants The Bronx , Rats , Morning , The Primary English Class , The Wakefield Plays , The Widow's Blind Date , Today I Am A Fountain Pen , Park Your Car In Harvard Yard (which Horovitz has adapted for a film starring Julianne Moore; also being revived on stage in Paris and Prague, this season), North Shore Fish , Fighting Over Beverley , Lebensraum (a triumph in Paris, this past season, opens in NYC in December), and My Old Lady (performed in June in Paris at the Comedie Francaise, opens in Prague in November). Newer plays include Free Gift , Stations of the Cross , One Under , 50 Years of Caddieing , Speaking Well of the Dead , Unexpected Tenderness , Fast Hands , Security , A Mother's Love , Sins of the Mother , The Fat Guy Gets The Girl , Cat-Lady , Beirut Rocks , The Hotel Play , Compromise , and a new play The Secret of Mme. Bonnard's Bath , which Horovitz directed in its premiere, this August, opens in NYC in February, '07. Screenplays include Author! Author! , The Strawberry Statement (Prix du Jury, Cannes Film Festival), Sunshine (European Academy Award - Best Screenplay), and EMMY -nominated James Dean . Horovitz wrote, directed and performed the award-winning documentary 3 Weeks After Paradise , shown in the USA on Bravo. He has recently completed two new screenplays, The Little Shock and The Perfect Marriage , both of which he will direct. He is now writing Eager to Die , a political thriller. Awards include the OBIE (twice), the Prix de Plaisir du Theatre, The Prix Italia (for radio plays), The Sony Radio Academy Award (for Man In Snow), The Writers Guild of Canada Best Screenwriter Award, The Christopher Award, The Drama Desk Award, an Award in Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Elliot Norton Prize, a Lifetime Achievement Award from B'N ai Brith, The Literature Prize of Washington College, an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Salem (Massachusetts) State College, Boston Public Library's Literary Lights Award, The Walker Hancock Prize, and many others. Mr. Horovitz is founder and Artistic Director of Gloucester Stage, and of the New York Playwrights Lab.
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