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For the first time since its debut in 2004, The American Theatre Wing's popular interview program "Downstage Center" has traveled outside New York City to secure interviews with a quartet of major world theatrical figures, producing upcoming episodes with South African playwright Athol Fugard at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven CT, actor Sir Ian McKellen and producer/theatre owner Howard Panter in London, and playwright/director Alan Ayckbourn in Scarborough, England.
Sir Ian McKellen's career has spanned five decades on stages in England, the U.S. and Australia. Most recently he appeared in Waiting for Godot, first opposite Patrick Stewart and later with Roger Rees, and toured as the title role in King Lear. His Broadway appearances include Dance of Death, Wild Honey and the U.S. premiere of Amadeus. The McKellen interview will be released on October 20, prior to his U.S. visit on November 1 to host a benefit for the charity Only Make Believe.
Athol Fugard is inarguably the world's best known South African playwright, whose work under the apartheid system broke down racial barriers both in his home country and abroad. His plays include Boesman and Lena, Hello and Goodbye, The Blood Know, A Lesson from Aloes, Master Harold...and the boys, Playland. Sorrows and Rejoicings and his newest play, The Train Driver, receiving its west coast premiere at the Fountain Theatre is Los Angeles and its East Coast premiere at the Long Wharf Theatre. The Fugard interview will be released on October 27.Howard Panter is Managing Director of Ambassador Theatre Group, owner/operator of more than three dozen theatres in London and around England, prompting him to be named the most powerful man in British theatre by The Stage newspaper. In addition to producing numerous plays and musicals and operating the ATG venues, Panter lays claim to having done every possible job in theatre except acting.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn is making a return visit to "Downstage Center," having been a guest in 2005 during the New York run of his play Private Fears in Public Places. Since that time, he has stepped down from his post as artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough; written five new plays, bringing his current total to 74, including My Wonderful Day, seen last year in New York at 59 East 59th Theatres, Life and Beth, and Life of Riley, the last currently receiving its world premiere at the Stephen Joseph; and received a 2010 Tony Award® for Lifetime Achievement. He has also seen Private Fears adapted as a film by the French director Alain Resnais and his 1970s trilogy The Norman Conquests revived both in London and New York, where it received the Tony for Best Revival of a Play in 2009.
The Panter and Ayckbourn interviews will be released later in 2010.American Theatre Wing Executive Director Howard Sherman commented, "While we have been able to secure an extraordinary range of guests in almost 300 programs without ever leaving Manhattan, there are some dream guests who haven't been available to us in New York for a variety of reasons. For the benefit of our listeners, it seemed important to take the opportunity to get out of Manhattan and continue our conversations where the artists were accessible. I hope we have more opportunities to travel with DSC in the future. "
