Circle Repertory Company
Encyclopedia
The Circle Repertory Company, originally named the Circle Theater Company, was a theatre company in New York City that ran from 1969 to 1996. It was founded on July 14, 1969, in Manhattan, in a second floor loft at Broadway and 83rd Street by director Marshall W. Mason
, playwright Lanford Wilson
, director Rob Thirkield, and actress Tanya Berezin, all of whom were veterans of the Caffe Cino. The plan was to establish a pool of artists — actors, directors, playwrights and designers — who would work together in the creation of plays.
Marshall W. Mason was succeeded as Artistic Director (1969–1987) by co-founder Tanya Berezin (1987–1995). In 1995, Austin Pendleton
succeeded her, with actress Lynn Thigpen as associate artistic director and Milan Stitt
as executive director and Edward M. Hausle as artistic director of the Circle Rep Lab.
Originating in the Sixties, a time when many experimental theaters arose, this company outlasted many others. The Company moved their home to the Sheridan Square Playhouse
at 99 Seventh Avenue South in the early 1970s and performed there through 1994. (In the early 1980s the name Sheridan Square Playhouse was dropped in favor of Circle Repertory Theatre). The company closed its doors in 1996 after 27 years.
, wrote The Hot L Baltimore (1972-1973 season), The Mound Builders (1974-1975 season), "Serenading Louie
" (1975–76 season), Fifth of July
(1977-1978 season), Talley's Folly
(1979-1980 season), A Tale Told (1980-1981 season, later revised as Talley & Son
), Angels Fall
(1982–83 season), Burn This
(1986–87 season), and Redwood Curtain
(1992–93 season) for the company.
The list of playwrights who also worked at Circle Rep includes Jon Robin Baitz
, John Bishop
, Julie Bovasso
, Michael Cristofer
, Jules Feiffer
, Herb Gardner, A.R. Gurney, William M. Hoffman
, Albert Innaurato
, Corinne Jacker, Arthur Kopit, Jim Leonard, Jr., Roy London
, Craig Lucas
, David Mamet
, Timothy Mason
, William Mastrosimone
, Mark Medoff
, Patrick Meyers, Marsha Norman
, Robert Patrick
, Joe Pintauro, William Missouri Downs
, Murray Schisgal
, Sam Shepard
, Milan Stitt
, Paula Vogel
, and Tennessee Williams
.
's When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
(1973–74), Edward J. Moore's The Sea Horse(1973–74), Jules Feiffer
's Knock Knock (1975–76), Albert Innaurato
's Gemini
(1976–77), Sam Shepard
's Fool for Love
(1982–83), William M. Hoffman
's As Is
(1984–85), Lanford Wilson
's Burn This
(1986–87), John Bishop
's The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
(1986–87), Craig Lucas
's Reckless (1987–88) and Prelude to a Kiss (1989–90), William Mastrosimone's Sunshine
(1989), Jon Robin Baitz
's Three Hotels (1992–93), Larry Kramer
'sThe Destiny of Me
(1992–93), and Terrence McNally
's It's Only a Play (1994).
, Tony Award
s, Obie Award
s, Drama Desk Award
s and the 1991 Lucille Lortel Award.
, Kathy Bates
, Beatrice Straight
, Christopher Reeve
, Jeff Daniels
, Judd Hirsch
, Swoosie Kurtz
, Timothy Busfield
, Lindsay Crouse
, John Dossett
, Brad Dourif
, Lisa Emery
, Conchata Ferrell
, Jonathan Hadary
, Jonathan Hogan
, Trish Hawkins, Barnard Hughes
, Judith Ivey
, Cherry Jones
, Lou Liberatore
, Joe Mantello
, Debra Monk
, David Morse
, Cynthia Nixon
, Tony Roberts
, Ben Siegler, Helen Stenborg
, Danton Stone
, Richard Thomas
, Fritz Weaver
, and Patricia Wettig
.
Other Circle Rep alumni include Joan Allen
, Alec Baldwin
, Dan Bonnell, Kelly Connell
, Olympia Dukakis
, William Fichtner
, Laurence Fishburne
, Scott Glenn
, Farley Granger
, Ed Harris
, Melissa Joan Hart
, Heavy D, Timothy Hutton
, Piper Laurie
, Jennifer Jason Leigh
, Christine Lahti
, John Malkovich
, Demi Moore
, Mary Louise Parker, and Gary Sinise
.
Sustaining the artistry of Circle Rep was a core company of actors who appeared in scores of productions over the years, including David Arrow, Michael Ayr, Steve Bassett, Tanya Berezin, Craig Bockhorn, Marylouise Burke, Paul Butler, Katherine Cortez, Cyndi Coyne, Cathryn Damon, Jack Davidson, Jake Dengel, Pamela Dunlap, Claris Erickson, Neil Flanagan, Mary Lea Floden, Lindsey Ginter, Stephanie Gordon, Mari Gorman, Kelly Hadden, Charles T. Harper, Michael Higgins, Ruby Holbrook, Jonathan Hogan, Laura Hughes, Ken Kliban, Zane Lasky, Bobo Lewis
, Lou Liberatore, Robert Lupone, Sharon Madden, Jeff McCracken
, Edward J. Moore, Jordan Mott, Bruce McCarty, Randy Noojin begin, Burke Pearson, Michael Warren Powell, Sharon Schlarth, Richard Seff, Timothy Shelton, Ben Siegler, Nancy Snyder
, June Stein, Danton Stone, Brian Tarrantina, Rob Thirkield, and Jimmie Ray Weeks, among others.
,
and David Potts for sets, Dennis Parichy
and Malcolm Sturchio for lights, Jennifer von Mayrhauser and Laura Crow for costumes, Chuck London and Stuart Warner for sound. Company composers have been Norman L. Berman
and Peter Kater
. Company stage managers were Fred Reinglas, MA Howard and Denise Yaney. Production Managers included Earl Hughes, Jody Boese, Kate Stewart and Karen Potosnak.
, and Schiller's Mary Stuart
. By 1982 Circle Rep had outgrown its theater and began to present some works on other stages. Running parallel to the classics, Circle Rep became celebrated for its productions of new plays, particularly those in the style that has been labeled "lyric realism," with Lanford Wilson being the father of the genre. Marshall W. Mason directed dozens of Wilson's plays starting with Balm in Gilead in 1965, Home Free! and The Madness of Lady Bright
in London (1968) and continuing at Circle Rep with Sextet (Yes) in 1971.
The literary office, headed by B. Rodney Marriott and followed by Milan Stitt
, was one of the few that read unsolicited scripts and plays and responded with detailed criticism. To the end of developing scripts and plays, the company ran two reading series, Friday Readings and Extended Readings.
The company collaborated with the Dramatists Guild on a series called Young Playwrights Festival, founded by Stephen Sondheim
and Gerald Chapman
in 1981. For the festival, ten plays with writers ranging from 8 to 18 were chosen for full production or staged readings. Plays were produced at Circle Rep with professional actors. Among the playwrights were Kenneth Lonergan and Jonathan Marc Sherman.
Marshall W. Mason
Marshall W. Mason is an American theater director, the founder and for eighteen years, artistic director of the Circle Repertory Company in New York City....
, playwright Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson was an American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
, director Rob Thirkield, and actress Tanya Berezin, all of whom were veterans of the Caffe Cino. The plan was to establish a pool of artists — actors, directors, playwrights and designers — who would work together in the creation of plays.
Marshall W. Mason was succeeded as Artistic Director (1969–1987) by co-founder Tanya Berezin (1987–1995). In 1995, Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
succeeded her, with actress Lynn Thigpen as associate artistic director and Milan Stitt
Milan Stitt
Milan Stitt was an American playwright and educator.Milan Stitt was born in Detroit, Michigan; he graduated from Cooley High School in 1959. Stitt then studied at Albion College to become a priest before receiving his BA from the University of Michigan and MFA from the Yale School of Drama...
as executive director and Edward M. Hausle as artistic director of the Circle Rep Lab.
Originating in the Sixties, a time when many experimental theaters arose, this company outlasted many others. The Company moved their home to the Sheridan Square Playhouse
Sheridan Square Playhouse
The Sheridan Square Playhouse was an Off-Broadway theatre in New York City that was active from 1958 through the early 1990s. Closed as a theatre in 1996, the theatre was located at 99 7th Avenue South in Greenwich Village.-History:...
at 99 Seventh Avenue South in the early 1970s and performed there through 1994. (In the early 1980s the name Sheridan Square Playhouse was dropped in favor of Circle Repertory Theatre). The company closed its doors in 1996 after 27 years.
Writers
Circle Repertory Company, also called Circle Rep, became home to some of the most prolific talent in the American theater. Co-founder and resident playwright, Lanford WilsonLanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson was an American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
, wrote The Hot L Baltimore (1972-1973 season), The Mound Builders (1974-1975 season), "Serenading Louie
Serenading Louie
-Production History:A 1976 Off-Broadway production played at the Circle Repertory Company from May 2 to May 30 1976. Marshall W. Mason won an Obie Award for his direction. The cast consisted of Tanya Berezin as Mary, Trish Hawkins as Gabrielle, Edward J. Moore as Carl and Michael Storm as Alex...
" (1975–76 season), Fifth of July
Fifth of July
Fifth of July is a 1978 play by American playwright Lanford Wilson. Set in rural Missouri in 1977, it revolves around the Talley family and their friends, and focuses on the disillusionment with America in the wake of the Vietnam War...
(1977-1978 season), Talley's Folly
Talley's Folly
Talley's Folly is a 1979 play by American playwright Lanford Wilson, the second in his cycle, The Talley Trilogy between his plays Talley & Son and Fifth of July. Set in an old boathouse near rural Lebanon, Missouri in 1944, it is a romantic comedy following the characters Matt Friedman and Sally...
(1979-1980 season), A Tale Told (1980-1981 season, later revised as Talley & Son
Talley & Son
Talley & Son is a play by Lanford Wilson, the third in his trilogy focusing on the Talley family of Lebanon, Missouri. It is set on July 4, 1944, the same day as Talley's Folly and thirty-three years prior to the events in Fifth of July....
), Angels Fall
Angels Fall
Angels Fall is a play written by Lanford Wilson. It debuted at New York's Circle Repertory Company in 1982.-Characters:*Niles Harris: a cynical, middle-aged university professor*Vita Harris: his much younger wife...
(1982–83 season), Burn This
Burn This
Burn This is a play by Lanford Wilson.-Plot:It begins shortly after the funeral of Robbie, a young gay dancer who drowned in a boating accident. In attendance were his roommates: choreographer Anna and ad man Larry...
(1986–87 season), and Redwood Curtain
Redwood Curtain
Redwood Curtain is a 1995 American dramatic TV movie created by Hallmark Hall of Fame, and directed by John Korty based upon the 1993 Broadway play of the same name by Lanford Wilson. Starring Jeff Daniels, Lea Salonga, Debra Monk and John Lithgow, the film debuted on ABC on April 23,...
(1992–93 season) for the company.
The list of playwrights who also worked at Circle Rep includes Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter, television producer and sometime actor.-Life and career:Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to...
, John Bishop
John Bishop (screenwriter)
John Bishop , was an American playwright and screenwriter who achieved limited success on both Broadway and in Hollywood....
, Julie Bovasso
Julie Bovasso
Julie Bovasso was an American actress of stage, screen and television. She was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian-American family.-Career:Bovasso appeared in many films, including Saturday Night Fever and...
, Michael Cristofer
Michael Cristofer
Michael Ivan Cristofer is an American playwright, filmmaker and actor. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play for The Shadow Box in 1977....
, Jules Feiffer
Jules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays...
, Herb Gardner, A.R. Gurney, William M. Hoffman
William M. Hoffman
William Moses Hoffman is an American playwright, editor and educator.- Biography :Born in New York City, New York, United States, Hoffman's earliest works either were mounted in small, experimental off-off-Broadway theaters in New York City or remain unproduced.It was not until 1985 that he...
, Albert Innaurato
Albert Innaurato
Albert Innaurato is an American playwright, theatre director, and writer.Innaurato was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1947. After graduating from California Institute of the Arts, Innaurato attended the Yale School of Drama...
, Corinne Jacker, Arthur Kopit, Jim Leonard, Jr., Roy London
Roy London
Roy London was an American actor and acting coach and teacher.-Early life:London was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. A math prodigy at age five, London was on the radio show, Quiz Kids, and educated at the experimental elementary school at Hunter College, NYC...
, Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.-Biography:...
, David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
, Timothy Mason
Timothy Mason
Timothy Wright Mason was a British Marxist historian of Nazi Germany.-Life and work:He was born in Birkenhead, the child of school-teachers and was educated at Birkenhead School and Oxford University. He taught at Oxford from 1971–1984 and was twice married. He helped to found the...
, William Mastrosimone
William Mastrosimone
William Mastrosimone is an American playwright and screenwriter from Trenton, New Jersey. He attended high school at The Pennington School and received a graduate degree in playwrighting from Mason Gross School of the Arts, a part of Rutgers University....
, Mark Medoff
Mark Medoff
Mark Medoff is an American playwright, screenwriter, film and theatre director, actor, and professor. His play Children of a Lesser God received both the Tony Award and the Olivier Award...
, Patrick Meyers, Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. She received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play night, Mother...
, Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick (playwright)
Robert Patrick is a gay American playwright, poet, lyricist, and short-story writer and novelist. He was born Robert Patrick O'Connor in Kilgore, Texas, USA.-Personal life:...
, Joe Pintauro, William Missouri Downs
William Missouri Downs
William Missouri Downs, also known as Bill Downs, originally from Bay City, Michigan, is an American playwright, director and author.Downs earned his Bachelor's degree at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, his MFA in acting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his second...
, Murray Schisgal
Murray Schisgal
Murray Schisgal is an American playwright and screenwriter.Native New Yorker Schisgal won his first recognition for the 1963 off-Broadway double-bill The Typists and The Tiger, which won him the Drama Desk Award. His 1965 Broadway debut, Luv, earned him Tony Award nominations for Best Play and...
, Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
, Milan Stitt
Milan Stitt
Milan Stitt was an American playwright and educator.Milan Stitt was born in Detroit, Michigan; he graduated from Cooley High School in 1959. Stitt then studied at Albion College to become a priest before receiving his BA from the University of Michigan and MFA from the Yale School of Drama...
, Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel is an American playwright and university professor. She received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive.-Early years:...
, and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
.
Productions
Circle Repertory Company provided the genesis for acclaimed productions such as Mark MedoffMark Medoff
Mark Medoff is an American playwright, screenwriter, film and theatre director, actor, and professor. His play Children of a Lesser God received both the Tony Award and the Olivier Award...
's When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? is a play by Mark Medoff.The setting is Foster's Diner, a New Mexico rest stop that lost most of its clientele when a new highway bypass opened. Employees include restless cook Stephen , mousy waitress Angel, and their no-nonsense boss Clark...
(1973–74), Edward J. Moore's The Sea Horse(1973–74), Jules Feiffer
Jules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays...
's Knock Knock (1975–76), Albert Innaurato
Albert Innaurato
Albert Innaurato is an American playwright, theatre director, and writer.Innaurato was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1947. After graduating from California Institute of the Arts, Innaurato attended the Yale School of Drama...
's Gemini
Gemini (play)
Gemini is a play by Albert Innaurato.-Plot:Set in the backyard of a blue collar South Philadelphia neighborhood early in the summer of 1973, the comedy-drama focuses on the 21st birthday celebration of Harvard student Francis Geminiani...
(1976–77), Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
's Fool for Love
Fool for Love (play)
Fool for Love is a play written by American playwright/actor Sam Shepard.-Plot:The "fools" in the play are battling lovers at a Mojave Desert motel. May is hiding out at said motel when an old childhood friend and old flame, Eddie. Eddie tries to convince May to come back home with him and live in...
(1982–83), William M. Hoffman
William M. Hoffman
William Moses Hoffman is an American playwright, editor and educator.- Biography :Born in New York City, New York, United States, Hoffman's earliest works either were mounted in small, experimental off-off-Broadway theaters in New York City or remain unproduced.It was not until 1985 that he...
's As Is
As Is (play)
As Is is a play by William M. Hoffman.The Circle Repertory Company and The Glines co-production, directed by Marshall W. Mason, opened on March 10, 1985 at the Circle Theatre, where it ran for 49 performances...
(1984–85), Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson was an American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
's Burn This
Burn This
Burn This is a play by Lanford Wilson.-Plot:It begins shortly after the funeral of Robbie, a young gay dancer who drowned in a boating accident. In attendance were his roommates: choreographer Anna and ad man Larry...
(1986–87), John Bishop
John Bishop (screenwriter)
John Bishop , was an American playwright and screenwriter who achieved limited success on both Broadway and in Hollywood....
's The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is a short comedy by John Bishop. The play was first performed at the Circle Repertory Company in their theatre at 99 Seventh Avenue South in New York City, later moving to Broadway, opening on April 6, 1987, in The Longacre Theatre. The both productions were...
(1986–87), Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.-Biography:...
's Reckless (1987–88) and Prelude to a Kiss (1989–90), William Mastrosimone's Sunshine
Sunshine
Sunshine is sunlight, the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the Sun, especially in the visible wavelengths.Sunshine may also refer to:-Film and television:*Sunshine , a historical film directed by István Szabó...
(1989), Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter, television producer and sometime actor.-Life and career:Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to...
's Three Hotels (1992–93), Larry Kramer
Larry Kramer
Larry Kramer is an American playwright, author, public health advocate, and LGBT rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to London where he worked with United Artists. There he wrote the screenplay for Women in Love in 1969, earning...
'sThe Destiny of Me
The Destiny of Me
The Destiny of Me is a play by Larry Kramer. It focuses on Ned Weeks, a character introduced in The Normal Heart, as he checks into the National Institutes of Health to undergo an experimental treatment for AIDS...
(1992–93), and Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...
's It's Only a Play (1994).
Awards
Circle Rep received numerous awards including the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
, Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s, Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
s, Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s and the 1991 Lucille Lortel Award.
Actors
A distinguished group of actors developed from Circle Repertory Company. The list of actors who called Circle Rep home includes William HurtWilliam Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
, Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
, Beatrice Straight
Beatrice Straight
Beatrice Whitney Straight was an American theatre, film, and television actress. Hers remains the shortest acting performance in a film to win an Oscar. In her winning role in the 1976 film Network, she was on screen for five minutes and forty seconds, the shortest time ever for the winner of the...
, Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve
Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
, Jeff Daniels
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels is an American actor, musician and playwright. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan...
, Judd Hirsch
Judd Hirsch
Judd Hirsch is an American actor most known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series Taxi, John Lacey on the NBC series Dear John, and Alan Eppes on the CBS series Numb3rs.-Early life and education:...
, Swoosie Kurtz
Swoosie Kurtz
Swoosie Kurtz is an American actress. She began her career in theater during the 1970s and shortly thereafter began a career in television, garnering ten nominations and winning one Emmy Award. Her most famous television project was her role on the 1990s NBC drama Sisters...
, Timothy Busfield
Timothy Busfield
Timothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
, Lindsay Crouse
Lindsay Crouse
-Early life:Crouse was born in New York City, the daughter of Anna and Russel Crouse, a playwright. Her full name—Lindsay Ann Crouse—is an intentional tribute to the Broadway writing partnership of Lindsay and Crouse. Her father and his writing partner, Howard Lindsay, wrote much of...
, John Dossett
John Dossett
John Dossett is an American actor and singer.-Early life and education:Dossett attended Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington, Delaware from 1972 through 1976, where he was an announcer for the school's radio station, WMPH, and appeared in student theater productions.-Career:Dossett made his...
, Brad Dourif
Brad Dourif
Bradford Claude "Brad" Dourif is an American film and television actor who gained early fame for his portrayal of Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and has since appeared in a number of memorable roles, including the voice of Chucky in the Child's Play franchise, Younger Brother in...
, Lisa Emery
Lisa Emery
Lisa Emery is an American stage, film, and television actress.Emery was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of an aspiring actress from Charlottesville, Virginia and an advertising executive who worked in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania...
, Conchata Ferrell
Conchata Ferrell
Conchata Galen Ferrell is an American actress. She is best known for playing Berta the housekeeper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, for which she received two Emmy Award nominations in 2005 and 2007.-Personal life:...
, Jonathan Hadary
Jonathan Hadary
Jonathan Hadary is an American actor.Born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Bethesda, Maryland, Hadary arrived at Tufts University already an accomplished actor. He was promptly cast by every director at Tufts, both student and faculty. During his sophomore year, he became an understudy for the...
, Jonathan Hogan
Jonathan Hogan
Jonathan Hogan is an American actor.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Hogan made his New York City stage debut in the off-Broadway Circle Repertory Company's highly successful production of Hot L Baltimore...
, Trish Hawkins, Barnard Hughes
Barnard Hughes
Bernard Aloysius Kiernan “Barnard” Hughes was an American actor of theater and film. Hughes became famous for a variety of roles; his most notable roles came after middle age, and he was often cast as a dithering authority figure or grandfatherly elder.-Personal life:Hughes was born in Bedford...
, Judith Ivey
Judith Ivey
Judith Lee Ivey is an American actress and director.-Personal life:Ivey was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Dorothy Lee , a teacher, and Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean. She spent 1965-1968 in Dowagiac, Michigan, where she attended Union High School through tenth grade...
, Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones is an American actress and recipient of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.-Career:...
, Lou Liberatore
Lou Liberatore
Lou Liberatore is an American actor.A graduate of Fordham University, Liberatore made his New York City stage debut in the 1982 Circle Repertory Company production of Richard II. As a permanent member of the company he appeared in The Great Grandson of Jebediah Kohler, Black Angel, and As Is and...
, Joe Mantello
Joe Mantello
Joseph Mantello is an American actor and director best known for his work on Broadway productions of Wicked, Take Me Out and Assassins, as well as earlier in his career being one of the original Broadway cast of Angels in America...
, Debra Monk
Debra Monk
Debra Monk is an American actress, singer, and writer.Monk was born in Middletown, Ohio. She was voted "best personality" by the graduating class at Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. She graduated from Frostburg State University in 1963...
, David Morse
David Morse (actor)
David Bowditch Morse is an American stage, television, and film actor. He first came to national attention as Dr. Jack Morrison in the medical drama St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988...
, Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Ellen Nixon is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series Sex and the City . She has received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award....
, Tony Roberts
Tony Roberts (actor)
David Anthony "Tony" Roberts is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in several Woody Allen movies, usually cast as Allen's best friend.-Early life:...
, Ben Siegler, Helen Stenborg
Helen Stenborg
Helen Joan Stenborg was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She occasionally acted with her husband, actor Barnard Hughes , to whom she was married from 1950 until his death in 2006; they had two children.-Career:Stenborg appeared on stage in revivals of A Doll's House, A Month...
, Danton Stone
Danton Stone
Danton Stone is an American veteran stage, film and television actor.-Stage plays:*Fifth of July *Angels Fall *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest...
, Richard Thomas
Richard Thomas (actor)
Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,...
, Fritz Weaver
Fritz Weaver
Fritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...
, and Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
.
Other Circle Rep alumni include Joan Allen
Joan Allen
Joan Allen is an American actress. She worked in theatre, television and film during her early career, and achieved recognition for her Broadway debut in Burn This, winning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play in 1989.She has received three Academy Award nominations;...
, Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
, Dan Bonnell, Kelly Connell
Kelly Connell
Kelly Connell is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous theatrical productions in New York and Los Angeles, starting with his off-Broadway debut in "The Butter And Egg Man" at Manhattan Punch Line Theatre...
, Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis is an American actress. In 1987, she won an Academy Award, BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for her performance in Moonstruck...
, William Fichtner
William Fichtner
William Edward Fichtner is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Sheriff Tom Underlay on Invasion, as Alexander Mahone on Prison Break, as William Sharp in Armageddon, and as Ken Rosenberg in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.- Early life...
, Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
, Scott Glenn
Scott Glenn
Theodore Scott Glenn is an American actor. His roles have included Wes Hightower in Urban Cowboy , astronaut Alan Shepard in The Right Stuff ,Emmett in Silverado , Commander Bart Mancuso in The Hunt for Red October , Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs and The Wise Man in Sucker Punch -Early...
, Farley Granger
Farley Granger
Farley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:...
, Ed Harris
Ed Harris
Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
, Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Catherine Hart is an American actress, writer, television director, television producer, singer and businesswoman...
, Heavy D, Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
, Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie is an American actress of stage and screen known for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks and the films The Hustler, Carrie, and Children of a Lesser God, all of which brought her Academy Award nominations...
, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...
, Christine Lahti
Christine Lahti
Christine Lahti is an American actress and film director. Lahti has had a successful career in television and film. Throughout her career she has garnered 2 Golden Globe Awards from 8 Nominations, An Emmy Award from 6 Nominations and 2 Academy Award nominations...
, John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
, Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...
, Mary Louise Parker, and Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
.
Sustaining the artistry of Circle Rep was a core company of actors who appeared in scores of productions over the years, including David Arrow, Michael Ayr, Steve Bassett, Tanya Berezin, Craig Bockhorn, Marylouise Burke, Paul Butler, Katherine Cortez, Cyndi Coyne, Cathryn Damon, Jack Davidson, Jake Dengel, Pamela Dunlap, Claris Erickson, Neil Flanagan, Mary Lea Floden, Lindsey Ginter, Stephanie Gordon, Mari Gorman, Kelly Hadden, Charles T. Harper, Michael Higgins, Ruby Holbrook, Jonathan Hogan, Laura Hughes, Ken Kliban, Zane Lasky, Bobo Lewis
Bobo Lewis
Barbara "Bobo" Lewis was an American comedic actress of film, musical theatre, stage and television.-Stage roles:...
, Lou Liberatore, Robert Lupone, Sharon Madden, Jeff McCracken
Jeff McCracken
Jeff McCracken is an American actor, director, and producer.After studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City he began his acting career on Broadway and off-Broadway, including Circle Repertory Company where he originated roles in new works by Lanford Wilson and Beth Henley, as well as...
, Edward J. Moore, Jordan Mott, Bruce McCarty, Randy Noojin begin, Burke Pearson, Michael Warren Powell, Sharon Schlarth, Richard Seff, Timothy Shelton, Ben Siegler, Nancy Snyder
Nancy Snyder
Nancy Snyder is an American actress who won the Clarence Derwent Award in 1976 and the Outer Critics Circle Best Actress award in the 1977–78 season.Snyder was born in Kankakee, Illinois in 1949...
, June Stein, Danton Stone, Brian Tarrantina, Rob Thirkield, and Jimmie Ray Weeks, among others.
,
Company members
Company designers were John Lee BeattyJohn Lee Beatty
John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer. He was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Claremont. His father was dean of students at Pomona College and his mother had also work in academia. While he was English major at Brown University, he also directed, wrote, acted and drew posters...
and David Potts for sets, Dennis Parichy
Dennis Parichy
Dennis Parichy is an award-winning American lighting designer. Parichy has designed lights for more than 15 Broadway productions since 1976, including: The Price, The Tenth Man, Coastal Disturbances, Penn & Teller, Burn This, The Nerd, As Is, Angels Fall, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Duet...
and Malcolm Sturchio for lights, Jennifer von Mayrhauser and Laura Crow for costumes, Chuck London and Stuart Warner for sound. Company composers have been Norman L. Berman
Norman L. Berman
Norman L. Berman is an American theater composer, arranger and director.Berman co-composed the score to the Broadway and off-Broadway productions of the 1979 musical play Strider: The Story of a Horse. For the 1980 Broadway production, he was the first composer to be awarded the Drama Desk award...
and Peter Kater
Peter Kater
Peter Kater is an American composer, songwriter-singer and pianist who has several times nominated for Grammy awards.He is of German ancestry.-Filmography:-References:* * * * at Internet Movie Database...
. Company stage managers were Fred Reinglas, MA Howard and Denise Yaney. Production Managers included Earl Hughes, Jody Boese, Kate Stewart and Karen Potosnak.
Program
In 1979 Circle Rep returned to their original concept of rotating rep, producing two plays in repertory; HamletHamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, and Schiller's Mary Stuart
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
. By 1982 Circle Rep had outgrown its theater and began to present some works on other stages. Running parallel to the classics, Circle Rep became celebrated for its productions of new plays, particularly those in the style that has been labeled "lyric realism," with Lanford Wilson being the father of the genre. Marshall W. Mason directed dozens of Wilson's plays starting with Balm in Gilead in 1965, Home Free! and The Madness of Lady Bright
The Madness of Lady Bright
The Madness of Lady Bright is a short play by Lanford Wilson, among the earliest of the gay theatre movement. It was first performed at Joe Cino's Caffe Cino in May 1964 and went on to tour internationally, appearing in revivals to the present day...
in London (1968) and continuing at Circle Rep with Sextet (Yes) in 1971.
Projects
In addition to major productions Circle Rep ran a Projects-in-Progress series called Circle Rep Lab. The Lab's Artistic Director was first Daniel Irvine, then Michael Warren Powell. Powell left due to artistic differences and was replaced by Edward M. Hausle, a young actor and playwright for the Lab since 1993. This choice caused some controversy amongst some of the long-standing members due to his age (Hausle was only 25 at the time.) At its height the Lab had over 300 active members. (actors, writers directors and designers) Plays selected for this series received a week of rehearsal and a four-performance run. Several of these plays went on to become major productions the following season or at other theaters, and include such original stagings as Marsha Norman's 'Night, Mother, Bill C. Davis' Mass Appeal, and William M. Hoffman's As IS. Michael Warren Powell is now artistic director of a successor company, Circle East, which continues on a smaller scale the work of the Lab.The literary office, headed by B. Rodney Marriott and followed by Milan Stitt
Milan Stitt
Milan Stitt was an American playwright and educator.Milan Stitt was born in Detroit, Michigan; he graduated from Cooley High School in 1959. Stitt then studied at Albion College to become a priest before receiving his BA from the University of Michigan and MFA from the Yale School of Drama...
, was one of the few that read unsolicited scripts and plays and responded with detailed criticism. To the end of developing scripts and plays, the company ran two reading series, Friday Readings and Extended Readings.
The company collaborated with the Dramatists Guild on a series called Young Playwrights Festival, founded by Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
and Gerald Chapman
Gerald Chapman (director)
Gerald Chapman was an English theatre director and educator who was best known for his work with the Royal Court Theatre, London, Gay Sweatshop, the New York City Young Playwrights Festival, the American Repertory Theatre, the Circle Repertory Company, and the Double Image Theatre.-Early...
in 1981. For the festival, ten plays with writers ranging from 8 to 18 were chosen for full production or staged readings. Plays were produced at Circle Rep with professional actors. Among the playwrights were Kenneth Lonergan and Jonathan Marc Sherman.