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. In 1974, The New York Times critic Mel Gussow acclaimed Circle Rep as the "chief provider of new American plays."
61-581: 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. Originating in the 1960s, 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
122-569: A Schlitz beer distributorship, and McNally attended W.B. Ray High School . Despite his distance from New York City, McNally's parents enjoyed Broadway musicals. When McNally was eight years old, his parents took him to see Annie Get Your Gun , starring Ethel Merman , and on a subsequent outing, McNally saw Gertrude Lawrence in The King and I . McNally later said: "When I saw On the Town , with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin with
183-684: A Couple of Phone Calls, Too) . In October 2015, Dallas Opera presented Great Scott with an original libretto by McNally and a score by Heggie. The new opera starred Joyce DiDonato and Frederica von Stade and was directed by Jack O'Brien. The Kennedy Center presented three of McNally's plays that focus on opera under the heading Nights at the Opera, in March 2010. It included a new play, Golden Age ; Master Class , starring Tyne Daly ; and The Lisbon Traviata , starring John Glover and Malcolm Gets . Golden Age subsequently ran Off-Broadway at
244-557: A Kiss (1989–90), William Mastrosimone 's Sunshine (1989), Jon Robin Baitz 's Three Hotels (1992–93), Larry Kramer 's The Destiny of Me (1992–93), and Terrence McNally 's It's Only a Play (1981). Circle Rep plays received numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize , Tony Awards , New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards , Obie Awards , Drama Desk Awards , and the company was honored with AT & T On Stage Award,
305-524: A Play , it premiered in off-Broadway in 1985 at Manhattan Theatre Club directed by John Tillinger and starring Christine Baranski , Joanna Gleason , and James Coco . After the failure of Broadway, Broadway and living briefly in Hollywood , he returned to New York City and formed an artistic relationship with Manhattan Theatre Club. The rapid spread of AIDS fundamentally changed his writing. McNally only became truly successful with works such as
366-684: A Projects-in-Progress series called Circle Rep Lab. The Lab's Artistic Director was first Daniel Irvine, then Michael Warren Powell . 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 . The literary office, headed by B. Rodney Marriott and followed by Milan Stitt ,
427-470: A Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2019. In his early years in New York City, McNally's interest in theatre brought him to a party where, departing, he shared a cab with Edward Albee , who had recently written The Zoo Story and The Sandbox . They functioned as a couple for over four years during which Albee wrote The American Dream and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He
488-486: A building or structure in Manhattan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright , librettist , and screenwriter . Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," McNally was the recipient of five Tony Awards. He won
549-560: A cruise around the world. On the cruise McNally completed a draft of what became the opening act of And Things That Go Bump in the Night . Steinbeck asked McNally to write the libretto for Here's Where I Belong , a musical version of the novel East of Eden . After graduation, McNally moved to Mexico to focus on his writing, completing a one-act play which he submitted to the Actors Studio in New York City for production. While
610-689: A drama about a woman coping with her son's death from AIDS. A year later, in Lips Together, Teeth Apart , two married couples spend the Fourth of July weekend at a summer house on Fire Island . They are all afraid to use the pool given that its owner has just died of AIDS. It was written for Christine Baranski , Anthony Heald , Swoosie Kurtz (taking the place of Kathy Bates ), and frequent McNally collaborator Nathan Lane , who had also starred in The Lisbon Traviata . With Kiss of
671-483: A living; I certainly don't think theatre should be just revivals, but there has always got to be a place for Chekhov , Ibsen , Shakespeare , Moliere and Aeschylus ." Mothers and Sons starring Tyne Daly and Frederick Weller opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre , where Master Class had its premiere, on March 24, 2014 (February 23, 2014, in previews). Mothers and Sons premiered at
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#1732772458722732-621: A musical adaptation of the E. L. Doctorow novel, which tells the story of Coalhouse Walker Jr., a black musician who demands retribution when his Model T is destroyed by a mob of white troublemakers. The musical also features such historical figures as Harry Houdini , Booker T. Washington , J. P. Morgan , and Henry Ford . For his libretto, McNally won his third Tony Award. Ragtime finished its Broadway run on January 16, 2000. A revival in 2009 closed after only two months. McNally's other plays from this period include 1994's Love! Valour! Compassion! , with Lane and John Glover , which examines
793-495: A score by Jake Heggie . The opera had its world premiere at San Francisco Opera in 2000 and subsequently received two commercial recordings and over 40 productions worldwide, making it "one of the most successful American operas in recent decades." In 2007, Heggie composed a chamber opera, Three Decembers , with a libretto by Gene Scheer based on a text McNally had created in 1999 for a Christmas concert to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS , Some Christmas Letters (and
854-607: A sexual farce revolving around five strangers who are lured to an apartment in lower Manhattan by a personal advertisement. Bad Habits , which satirizes American reliance upon psychotherapy , premiered at the John Drew Theatre in East Hampton, New York , in 1971 starring Linda Lavin . It transferred to the Booth Theatre on Broadway in 1974 and garnered an Obie Award . The Ritz is a farce centering on
915-710: A straight man who inadvertently takes refuge in a Mafia-owned gay bathhouse. It opened at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. , and moved to the Longacre Theatre on Broadway in 1975. Robert Drivas , then McNally's romantic partner, directed both productions. McNally adapted the play for the motion picture, The Ritz (1976), directed by Richard Lester . In 1978, McNally wrote Broadway, Broadway , which failed in its Philadelphia try-out starring Geraldine Page . Rewritten and retitled It's Only
976-466: A theatre in 1996, the theatre was located at 99 7th Avenue South in Greenwich Village . Prior to being a theatre, the building was host to The Nut Club , a famous nightclub frequented by people such as Lionel Barrymore , Jimmy Durante , Eddie Cantor , and Mae West . The building was originally built as a garage, on the foundations of a church demolished in 1917 for the construction of
1037-469: A widow who has amassed enormous sums of wealth and returns to her hometown to seek revenge on the villagers who scorned her in her youth. The project originally starred Angela Lansbury who departed the process to care for her ailing husband. Chita Rivera became the new star and The Visit had its first production at The Goodman Theater in Chicago in 2001. The first preview was held just ten days after
1098-603: A year, I had stopped drinking." When given his Tony for Lifetime Achievement in June 2019, he began his acceptance speech saying "Lifetime achievement. Not a moment too soon." He wore a cannula and appeared short of breath. McNally died at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida, on March 24, 2020, at the age of 81, from complications of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic . He had previously overcome lung cancer in
1159-455: A young Estelle Parsons . Starting a career that covered both off-Broadway and Broadway, his plays cried out against Vietnam , satirized stale family dynamics, mocked sexual mores and became a part of the social protest movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1964, his next play And Things That Go Bump in the Night put homosexuality squarely on stage which brought him the ire of New York City's conservative theatre critics. It opened at
1220-405: A young man, McNally was a heavy drinker. He relates that while attending a party in 1980 he spilled a drink on Lauren Bacall . "Then someone I hardly knew, Angela Lansbury , [said] 'I just want to say, I don't know you very well, but every time I see you, you're drunk, and it bothers me.'...She was someone I revered, and she said this with such love and concern. I went to an A.A. meeting, and within
1281-497: Is about a young man who professes his love to a naked woman he has gagged and bound to a chair. In Let It Bleed (1972) a young couple showers and becomes convinced an intruder is lurking on the other side of the shower curtain. These and his other early plays, including Tour (1967), Witness (1968), and Bringing It All Back Home (1970), and Whiskey (1973), form a dark satire on American moral complacency. McNally turned to comedy and farce , beginning with Noon (1968),
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#17327724587221342-909: Is an open archive. He had previously deposited his papers at the University of Michigan. His high school English teacher, Maurine McElroy, who had since become head of freshman English at the University of Texas, influenced his choice of Texas. Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life , a documentary about McNally's life and career, aired on PBS on June 14, 2019, as part of their American Masters series. The film features new interviews with McNally in addition to conversations with his friends and collaborators, including F. Murray Abraham , Christine Baranski , Tyne Daly , Edie Falco , John Kander , Nathan Lane , Angela Lansbury , Marin Mazzie , Audra McDonald , Rita Moreno , Billy Porter , Chita Rivera , Doris Roberts , John Slattery and Patrick Wilson , plus
1403-751: The Bucks County Playhouse (Pennsylvania) in June 2013. Vermont Stage opened its production January 27, 2016 at FlynnSpace in Burlington, Vermont . The play is an expansion on his 1988 drama Andre's Mother , which was set at a memorial service for a victim of the AIDS crisis . Mothers and Sons also marked the first time a legally wed gay couple was portrayed on Broadway. It was nominated for two Tony Awards including for Best Play. McNally's Fire and Air premiered Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company on February 1, 2018. The play explores
1464-633: The Circle in the Square Theatre 's former home at 159 Bleecker Street. The last production at the theatre was Graydon Royce and Geoffrey C. Ewing 's (who also starred in) Ali in 1992. The building became a restaurant and jazz club under the name Garage Restaurant and Cafe, which closed in 2015. This article about a theater building in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about
1525-635: The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre . In 2004, Primary Stages presented McNally's The Stendhal Syndrome, which according to McNally explores "how art can affect us emotionally, psychologically, and erotically." The play starred Isabella Rossellini and Richard Thomas and was directed by Leonard Foglia. In 2007, Philadelphia Theatre Company presented Some Men , which explores the evolution of gay relationships and same-sex marriage. It went on to Second Stage Theatre in New York and
1586-664: The Prince of Wales Theater in London's West End . McNally collaborated on several new American operas. His voice may be more familiar with opera fans than theater-goers, as for nearly 30 years (1979–2008) he was a member of the Texaco Opera Quiz panel that fielded questions during the weekly Live from the Met radio broadcasts. He wrote the libretto for Dead Man Walking , his adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean's book, with
1647-488: The Royale Theatre on Broadway to generally negative reviews. The play explores the psycho-social dynamic of anxiety that leads one to preemptively and defensively accuse others of creating problems that in actuality result from one's own insecurity. McNally later said, "My first play, Things That Go Bump in the Night , was a big flop. I had to begin all over again." Nevertheless, the producer, Theodore Mann dropped
1708-554: The September 11 attacks , and the producers were unable to get many investors or critics from New York City to fly to Chicago. In 2004, Fred Ebb, the lyricist, died. Its next regional production occurred in 2008 at The Signature Theatre outside of Washington, D.C. In 2014, under the direction of John Doyle and starring Chita Rivera and Roger Rees , The Visit had a new production at Williamstown Theatre and then transferred to Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre in 2015. The musical
1769-848: The Tony Award for Best Play for Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class and the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime , and received the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1996, and he also received the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, he
1830-595: The "Defenders of the Messenger Jesus" issued a fatwa sentencing McNally to death. In 2008, the play was revived in New York City at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre . Reviewing this production for The New York Times , Jason Zinoman wrote that "without the noise of controversy, the play can finally be heard. Staged with admirable delicacy... the work seems more personal than political, a coming-of-age story wrapped in religious sentiment." In 2000, McNally partnered with composer and lyricist David Yazbek to write
1891-3083: The Award for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway from the Lucille Lortel Awards , and the Pride Agenda's Artistic Vision Award, and more. A distinguished group of actors developed from Circle Repertory Company. The list of actors who called Circle Rep home includes Kathy Bates , Timothy Busfield , Bobby Cannavale , Lindsay Crouse , Jeff Daniels , John Dossett , Brad Dourif , Lisa Emery , Conchata Ferrell , Mari Gorman , Jonathan Hadary , Trish Hawkins, Judd Hirsch , Jonathan Hogan , Barnard Hughes , William Hurt , Judith Ivey , Cherry Jones , Swoosie Kurtz , Zane Lasky, Lou Liberatore , Joe Mantello , Debra Monk , David Morse , Cynthia Nixon , Lisa Pelikan , Tonya Pinkins , Christopher Reeve , Tony Roberts , Daphne Rubin-Vega , Sharon Sharth, Ben Siegler, Helen Stenborg , Danton Stone , Beatrice Straight , 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 , Christine Lahti , Jennifer Jason Leigh , John Malkovich , Demi Moore , Mary-Louise Parker , and Gary Sinise . Other company and Circle LAB actors included David Arrow, Michael Ayr, Steve Bassett, Tanya Berezin , Craig Bockhorn, Maggie Burke, Marylouise Burke, Paul Butler, Lynn Cohen , Katherine Cortez, Cyndi Coyne, Cathryn Damon, Jack Davidson, Danielle Delgado, Jake Dengel, Anthony DiMaria , Pamela Dunlap, Claris Erickson, Neil Flanagan, Mary Lea Floden, Lindsey Ginter , Stephanie Gordon, Steve Gregan, 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, Monica Parks, Burke Pearson, Michael Warren Powell, Scott Rymer, Sharon Schlarth, Richard Seff, Timothy Shelton, Ben Siegler, Nancy Snyder , June Stein, Ife Oshun, Brian Tarantina , Rob Thirkield, and Jimmie Ray Weeks, among others. Company designers were John Lee Beatty 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 , Jonathan Brielle, 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. In 1979 Circle Rep returned to their original concept of rotating rep, producing two plays in repertory; Hamlet , 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
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1952-825: The Clair de Lune opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre . The production starred Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon , and was directed by Arin Arbus in her Broadway debut. In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots , an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ rights movement , Queerty named him one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality , acceptance and dignity for all queer people". McNally received
2013-545: The IRT 7th Avenue line. The Sheridan Square Playhouse opened on May 6, 1958 with a production of Jacinto Benavente 's 1907 play The Bonds of Interest ( Los intereses creados ). It soon hosted a two-year revival of the musical Leave It to Jane . The theatre became the home of the Circle Repertory Company in 1972, hosting their plays through the 1993-1994 theatre season, after which the company relocated to
2074-503: The Manhattan Theatre Club New York City Center – Stage I from November 2012 to January 2013. In 2001, McNally started what became a 15-year developmental process towards Broadway with the musical The Visit , for which he wrote the book. The music is written by John Kander and the lyrics by Fred Ebb . Adapted from Friedrich Dürrenmatt 's 1956 satire, The Visit is the story of
2135-512: The Spider Woman (based on the novel by Manuel Puig ) in 1992, McNally returned to the musical stage, collaborating with Kander and Ebb on a script which explores the complex relationship between two men jailed together in a Latin American prison. Kiss of the Spider Woman won the 1993 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical , the first of McNally's four Tony Awards . He collaborated with Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens on Ragtime in 1997,
2196-552: The Staten Island Ferry and the Empire State Building, I said: 'That's where I want to live.' I've never regretted it." In high school McNally was encouraged to write by a gifted English teacher, Maurine McElroy (1913–2005). He enrolled at Columbia College in 1956. There he especially enjoyed Andrew Chiappe's two-semester course on Shakespeare in which students read Shakespeare's plays in roughly
2257-529: 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 leading voice 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. In addition to major productions Circle Rep ran
2318-665: The company. The list of playwrights who also worked at Circle Rep includes Jon Robin Baitz , John Bishop , Julie Bovasso , Michael Cristofer , Keith Curran , William Missouri Downs , Charles Evered , Jules Feiffer , Herb Gardner , A.R. Gurney , Peter Hedges , 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 , Murray Schisgal , Sam Shepard , Milan Stitt , Paula Vogel , Tennessee Williams and Paul Zindel . Circle Repertory Company
2379-778: 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. 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 Wilson , 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
2440-530: The history of the Ballets Russes , the Russian ballet company, with a particular focus on Sergei Diaghilev , the ballet impresario, and Vaslav Nijinsky , the dancer and choreographer. It featured the actors Douglas Hodge , Marsha Mason , Marin Mazzie , John Glover , and Jay Armstrong Johnson and was directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle . On May 29, 2019, a revival of Frankie and Johnny in
2501-544: The jungle while making a game of the great names in Western Civilization. ¡Cuba Si! (1968) satirizes the disdain that many Americans feel for the idea of revolution though United States was itself born out of a revolution. It starred Melina Mercouri . In Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone? (1971) he celebrates while mourning the ineffectiveness of the American youth movement's conviction to "blow this country up so we can start all over again." Sweet Eros (1968)
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2562-585: The late 1990s that cost him portions of both his lungs due to the disease, and he was living with COPD at the time of his death. For McNally, the most important function of theatre was to create community and bridge rifts opened between people by differences in religion, race, gender, and particularly sexual orientation. In an address to members of the League of American Theatres and Producers he remarked, "I think theatre teaches us who we are, what our society is, where we are going. I don't think theatre can solve
2623-477: The most pivotal moments in dramatic history entwined with a modern-day story of a struggling theatre company. McNally said that "It's very much written for the Pearl, the company that has kept the faith for the great classic plays. There are whole seasons in New York when I don't think a single classic play would have been performed if it hadn't been for the Pearl... I think it's really important. I write new plays for
2684-513: The musical The Full Monty , which was directed by Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell . It had an initial run at The Old Globe Theatre and then transferred to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Broadway. The opening night cast included Patrick Wilson , Andre De Shields , Jason Danieley , Kathleen Freeman , Emily Skinner , and Annie Golden . It was nominated for 12 Tony Awards including for McNally's book. It later transferred to
2745-412: The off-Broadway production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and its screen adaptation with stars Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer . His first Broadway musical was The Rink in 1984, a project he joined after the score by composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb had been written. In 1990, McNally won an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Miniseries or Special for Andre's Mother ,
2806-649: The order of their composition. He joined the Boar's Head Society and wrote Columbia's annual Varsity Show , which featured music by fellow student Edward L. Kleban and directed by Michael P. Kahn . He graduated in 1960 with a B.A. in English and membership in Phi Beta Kappa Society . In 1961, McNally was hired by novelist John Steinbeck to tutor his two teenage sons as the Steinbeck family took
2867-507: The play was turned down by the acting school, the Studio was impressed with the script, and McNally was invited to serve as the Studio's stage manager so that he could gain practical knowledge of theater. His earliest full-length play, This Side of the Door , deals with a sensitive boy's battle of wills with his overbearing father and was produced in an Actors Studio Workshop in 1962, featuring
2928-517: The playwrights were Kenneth Lonergan and Jonathan Marc Sherman . Michael Warren Powell became the artistic director of a successor company, Circle East, which continued the work of the LAB until Powell's death in 2016. 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
2989-399: The price of tickets to $ 1.00 which allowed the production to run with sold-out houses for three weeks. Next (1968), which brought him his greatest early acclaim and was directed by Elaine May and starred James Coco , follows a married, middle-aged, businessman who has been mistakenly drafted into the armed forces. Botticelli (1968) centers on two American soldiers standing guard in
3050-634: The problems of a society, nor should it be expected to ... plays don't do that. People do. [But plays can] provide a forum for the ideas and feelings that can lead a society to decide to heal and change itself." McNally donated his papers to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin . The archive includes all of his major works for stage, screen, and television, as well as correspondence, posters, production photographs, programs, reviews, awards, speeches, and recordings. It
3111-449: The relationships of eight gay men; it won McNally his second Tony Award; and Master Class (1995), a character study of legendary opera soprano Maria Callas , which starred Zoe Caldwell and won the Tony Award for Best Play , McNally's fourth. McNally's Corpus Christi (1997) became the subject of protests. In this retelling of the story of Jesus' birth, ministry, and death, he and his disciples are portrayed as homosexual. The play
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#17327724587223172-730: The world. He also wrote screenplays, teleplays, and a memoir. Active in the regional and off-Broadway theatre movements as well as on Broadway , he was one of the few playwrights of his generation to have successfully passed from the avant-garde to mainstream acclaim. His work centered on the difficulties of and urgent need for human connection. He was vice-president of the Council of the Dramatists Guild from 1981 to 2001. He died of complications from COVID-19 on March 24, 2020, at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida. McNally
3233-505: Was born November 3, 1938, in St. Petersburg, Florida , to Hubert Arthur and Dorothy Katharine (Rapp) McNally, two transplanted New Yorkers from Irish Catholic backgrounds. His parents ran a seaside bar and grill called The Pelican Club, but after a hurricane destroyed the establishment, the family briefly relocated to Port Chester, New York , then to Dallas, Texas , and finally to Corpus Christi, Texas . There Hubert McNally purchased and managed
3294-740: Was directed by Trip Cullman. That same year McNally's drama Deuce ran on Broadway at the Music Box Theater for a limited engagement in 2007 for 121 performances. Directed by Michael Blakemore , the play starred Angela Lansbury , in her return to Broadway after more than 20 years, and Marian Seldes . And Away We Go premiered Off-Broadway at the Pearl Theatre in November 2013, with direction by Jack Cummings III and featured Donna Lynne Champlin , Sean McNall and Dominic Cuskern. The play takes place over several millennia covering
3355-488: Was frustrated by Albee's lack of openness about his sexuality. McNally later said: "I became invisible when press was around or at an opening night. I knew it was wrong. It's so much work to live that way." After his relationship with Albee, McNally entered into a long-term relationship with the actor and director Robert Drivas . Drivas and McNally broke up as a couple in 1976; they remained close friends until Drivas died of AIDS-related complications ten years later. McNally
3416-503: Was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters , the highest recognition of artistic merit in the United States. His other accolades included an Emmy Award , two Guggenheim Fellowships , a Rockefeller Grant , four Drama Desk Awards , two Lucille Lortel Awards , two Obie Awards , and three Hull-Warriner Awards . His career spanned six decades, and his plays, musicals, and operas were routinely performed all over
3477-481: Was initially canceled because of death threats against the board members of the Manhattan Theatre Club , which produced the play. The board relented after several other playwrights, including Athol Fugard , threatened to withdraw their plays if Corpus Christi was not produced. A crowd of almost 2,000 protested the play as blasphemous at its opening. After it opened in London in 1999, a group called
3538-538: Was nominated for five Tony awards including for McNally's book. Continuing his work on librettos, McNally partnered with his collaborators on Ragtime , Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens , to write the musical A Man of No Importance which premiered at Lincoln Center in 2002 and was directed by Joe Mantello . He also wrote the libretto for Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life , in 2005, another collaboration with Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, which began at The Old Globe and subsequently transferred to Broadway at
3599-558: 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
3660-605: Was partnered to Tom Kirdahy , a Broadway producer and a former civil rights attorney for not-for-profit AIDS organizations, following a civil union ceremony in Vermont on December 20, 2003. They married in Washington, D.C. , on April 6, 2010. In celebration of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, they renewed their vows at New York City Hall with Mayor Bill de Blasio , Kirdahy's college roommate, officiating on June 26, 2015. As
3721-557: Was the launching pad of acclaimed productions such as Mark Medoff 's When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1973–74), Edward J. Moore's The Sea Horse (1973–74), Tennessee Williams' Battle of Angels (1974), 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 (1990) and Prelude to
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