Havel at Columbia
Panel
Theater and Citizenship
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Moderated by Alisa Solomon
Dec 04 7:00pm In partnership with Public Theater |
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With
Edward Albee
Israel Horovitz
Anna Deavere Smith
Wallace Shawn
Alisa Solomon is a theater scholar, critic and journalist who directs the Arts & Culture concentration in the new MA program at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. She spent nearly 20 years at the City University of New York, based at Baruch College (Journalism) and at the Graduate Center (PhD programs in Theater and in English; Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies). In addition to contributing occasionally to The Nation, The Forward, The New York Times, and other publications, she worked at the Village Voice for 21 years, where she won awards for her reporting on reproductive rights, electoral politics, women's sports, and immigration policy, and reviewed thousands of plays. Solomon's book, Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender, won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. She is the editor of three anthologies: Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (with Tony Kushner); Theater and Social Change (Theater, 31:3); and The Queerest Art: Essays on Lesbian and Gay Theater (with Framji Minwalla). She is a contributing editor on the weekly radio program Beyond the Pale: Radical Jewish Culture and Politics (WBAI).
Edward Albee made his playwriting debut with The Zoo Story , which received its world premiere in Berlin, Germany in 1959 and opened Off-Broadway the following year. By 1962, following the success of shorter works, Albee reached Broadway with the premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf . Both a box office and critical sensation, the play was denied a Pulitzer Prize on the grounds that the play did not represent a "wholesome" view of American life. However in 1967 Albee received the Pulitzer for his work A Delicate Balance , and won the award two more times for Seascape in 1975 and Three Tall Women in 1994. In 1996 he received Kennedy Center Honors and was awarded the National Medal of Honors. The American Theater Wing presented Albee with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is a champion of emerging playwrights and continues to teach regular writing workshops after teaching playwriting at the University of Houston from 1989 to 2003.
Israel Horovitz is a playwright whose work has been translated and performed in as many as 30 languages. His best known plays include Line (now in 33rd year, Off Broadway), The Indian Wants The Bronx , Rats , Morning , The Primary English Class , Hopscotch , The Wakefield Plays (a 9-play cycle), Today I Am A Fountain Pen , and Park Your Car In Harvard Yard (which he recently adapted for a film starring Julianne Moore; recently played in Prague, starring Dagmar Havlova, a/k/a Mrs. Vaclav Havel). This current season in NYC will see three Horovitz shows: in December, Lebensraum; in January, Israel Horovitz's New Shorts (an evening of nine short plays); and in February, Horovitz directs the NYC premiere of his newest play The Secret of Mme. Bonnard's Bath . Awards include the OBIE (twice), the Prix de Plaisir du Théâtre, The Prix Italia (for radio plays), The Sony Radio Academy Award (for Man In Snow ),The European Academy Award and The Writers Guild of Canada Best Screenwriter Award (both for Sunshine), the Drama Desk Award, an Award in Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lifetime Achievement Award from B'N ai Brith, Boston Public Library's Literary Lights Award, the Walker Hancock Prize, and many others.
Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, teacher and author. Best known for her solo performances that explore issues of race, community, and character in America, Smith's work blends journalism with storytelling, resulting in productions where she might play up to 46 characters in an evening. She was the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant in 1996, and was an Obie Award-winner for both her solo performances Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 . Smith was also nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for Twilight as Best Actress and author of Best Play. She has acted in television, playing the National Security Advisor on NBC' s former hit show The West Wing , and in films including The American President and The Human Stain . Her books include Letters to a Young Artist, Talk to Me and several published plays. She is currently University Professor at New York University where she is appointed at the Tisch School of the Arts and affiliated with the School of Law. Smith is the founder and director of The Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, a project at Harvard University. She has several honorary degrees -- among them Northwestern, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan, Holy Cross, and Cooper Union.
Wallace Shawn is a playwright and performer of stage and screen. He is a three time Obie Award-winner for Best New American Play and Distinguished Playwriting for his works Our Late Night , The Fever , and the recently revived Aunt Dan and Lemon . He is also the author of Marie and Bruce and the new adaptation of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera which opened on Broadway in the Spring of 2006. Shawn was a Fulbright scholar where he taught English in India, and in 2005 he received a career achievement award from the PEN /Laura Pels Foundation for his works in the theater. He has also had an extensive film career starting with his appearance in Woody Allen's Manhattan , and whose highlights include his partnership with theatre director/actor André Gregory in My Dinner with André , with David Mamet in Uncle Vanya on 42nd Street , and with Mandy Patinkin and André the Giant in The Princess Bride . He is a graduate of both Harvard and Oxford University.
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