Introducing the Assassins: John W. Hinckley, Jr.

“Jodie, I am asking you to please look into your heart and at least give me a chance with this historic deed to gain your respect and love.”

John W. Hinckley, Jr.

John W. Hinckley, Jr. The son of a wealthy oil company executive, Hinckley was born in 1955 in Ardmore, Oklahoma and raised near Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas. By college he had become an indifferent and reclusive student, dreaming of a musical career like his early idol John Lennon. Hinckley’s later obsession with Martin Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver drove him to a real-life stalking of the actress Jodie Foster. Desperate for her attention, he attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan before an AFL-CIO event at the Washington Hilton Hotel in DC on March 30, 1981, frantically emptying all six shots from his revolver while being tackled by Secret Service agents. Reagan recovered from a dangerous gunshot wound a mere inch from his heart, but the attack permanently disabled press secretary Jim Brady, in whose name Congress enacted gun control legislation bearing the name the Brady Law. On the strength of a hotly contested insanity defense, Hinckley was committed to a Washington psychiatric hospital, where he remains to the present day.

With guitar in hand, Brandon Garegnani strums his way into the character of John W. Hinckley, Jr. The curtain has almost fallen on Assassins, buy your tickets today!

Get There Faster: Our Pair of Visiting Actors Talks About IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Todd Lawson and Katja Hill in
It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

Returning to PlayMakers to play the role of Lana Sherwood in It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play has been both a pleasure and a challenge. It's Monday, our day off from the run, and it's startling how exhausted I am. With our busy schedule of eight shows this last week, resulting in two double-show days fraught with twice the amount of time wrangling elaborate victory rolls on my heavily gelled and ossified hair, the joy of acting has shown its flip side as quite a bit of hard work. It's impossible to do each show well without sufficient rest in between.

It may have something to do with the nature of the show itself. Frank Capra's famous film is episodic, with a seeming cast of thousands popping up in multiple locations that zoom in and out in quick succession. It's also longer than the runtime of our play, adapted by Joe Landry. Translating this vivid world to a single unit set of a theater -- with a shorter run time to tell the tale -- takes a great leap of imagination and careful choices. Our director Nelson Eusebio accomplished this task with a small cast of five actors, one foley artist, and a shrewd economy of staging with tireless attention to what is perhaps the least glamourous element of playmaking outside of the sheer slogging work of learning lines: those infernal transitions!

What's a transition? Well, that means any change from scene to scene. On any given page in Landry's script, we could be in the radio studio, heaven, Martini's bar, Nick's bar, the Building & Loan, 320 Sycamore, mean old Potter's office, Zuzu's bedroom, or half a dozen other places. And despite the beauty and careful detail of McKay Coble's art deco set, Burke Brown's magical lights, and Rachel Pollock's elegant, beautifully tailored costumes, we don't use much other than four chairs, a few microphone stands, and Mark Lewis's savvy sound effects to establish those worlds. The changes from moment to moment are very much actor-driven and therefore, subject to human error. And for a while there, it was usually mine. The success of it all depends on a nimble cast to zip through what our director calls "the tops and tails" of every scene. Without Capra's camera to direct the eye, any one of us could shake an audience's focus, attention and interest in a poorly wrought scene change. Staying ahead of the audience is vital, though extremely difficult with such a well-known holiday classic tale. 

For my part, the name of the game is always "Get There Faster!" In heels, no less. So much of playmaking comes down to utterly mechanical stuff that would bore most folks to tears if they had to sit through a cue-to-cue tech rehearsal.  No, it isn't sexy, but those matters present actors with countless opportunities to kill a show with their bare hands if they're not ready to pounce on the transitions. It's odd how this awareness has changed what I've learned to see as an audience member. The best directors are those who are able to be fleet-footed in the changes from scene to scene so that the show can literally get out of its own way, but few want to spend precious rehearsal time thinking such things through. Our audiences are fortunate that Nelson did. 

Katja Hill

Todd Lawson as George Bailey (center),
with Maren Searle as Mary and Brandon Garegnani as Clarence.

Hey there folks,

So I traveled down to PlayMakers Rep from Brooklyn, New York, on a chilly October day, not really knowing what to expect. I couldn't have asked for more. What a welcoming company and community.  The experience here has been amazing. I was thrilled to be able to play one of my favorite characters of all time, George Bailey. But, to then be surrounded by such talented and generous souls while doing it has been the icing on the cake. It truly is A Wonderful Life here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. If you haven't gotten a chance to come see the play yet, I hope you come share my joy for this wonderful story in this wonderful place during this wonderful holiday season. Thanks PlayMakers and Chapel Hill.  Hope to see ya again soon.

Todd Lawson



IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY adapted by Joe Landry
November 28 – December 16, 2012
Directed by Nelson T. Eusebio III
JUST THREE PERFORMANCES LEFT!

PlayMakers Monday News Roundup

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is a hit! The Daily Tar Heel today gave the show FIVE STARS,  saying it "breathed new life into both the classic story and the art of radio acting" and made this charming holiday staple, "once again, truly wonderful."

For those looking to go even farther inside the production, The Daily Tar Heel offered up a terrific preview of the show in Friday's issue, including interviews with actors and director Nelson Eusebio and a few glimpses behind the scenes.

Durham's Herald-Sun also interviewed lead actor Todd Lawson about the challenges of taking on the iconic role of George Bailey--if not Jimmy Stewart.

To hear Lawson's voice, as well as the voices of director Eusebio and actor Katja Hill, check out this interview with D.G. Martin for WCHL's "Who's Talking." They discuss the differences between this production and the original Frank Capra movie, as well as give you a small taste of the action you can see on stage.

Finally, for you radio lovers, tune into WUNC 91.5 FM tomorrow at noon and 9 p.m. as PlayMakers is featured on "The State of Things" with Frank Stasio.


IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY adapted by Joe Landry
November 28 – December 16, 2012
Directed by Nelson T. Eusebio III
SECURE YOUR SEATS NOW

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Dressing the Players within the Play, Part I

As PlayMakers puts the finishing touches on it's on-stage reinvention of the holiday film classic IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, we go behind-the-scenes to see what inspired our creative team, beyond Capra's classic movie, of course.

For starters, the script is set in a 1940s radio studio on Christmas Eve, as five radio actors transport a live audience both to Bedford Falls and into this timeless story of family and redemption. Those five wartime actors have personalities and stories themselves, distinct and sometimes quite different from the familiar characters from the original movie: George, Mary, Clarence, Violet and more. PlayMakers costume designer Rachel Pollock went back to the '40s to come up with the clothes that make these players-within-the-play. Here, in the first of three segments to be posted this week, we look at the sources that inspired Rachel in coming up with the distinct, on-stage look for each character, as well as read her notes on these idea-generators.

Freddie Filmore (played by PlayMakers veteran Ray Dooley) is the boisterous radio announcer who takes on the role of the villainous Mr. Potter. No surprise that Rachel sought out the look of A-listers Cary Grant and Clark Gable--fittingly grouped with the height of 1940s tailoring--for this commanding personality.

Funnyman Harry "Jazzbo" Heywood (Brandon Garegnani) plays the beloved if somewhat bumbling guardian angel Clarence. He does so in a wardrobe inspired by jazz standout Dizzy Gillespie, with a sharp tie, loud jacket and perhaps larger-than-necessary pants.


IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY adapted by Joe Landry
November 28 – December 16, 2012
Directed by Nelson T. Eusebio III
SECURE YOUR SEATS NOW

Production photos of "Noises Off"

Noises Off is on stage! Check out these fun photos we took at the final dress rehearsal this past week. It's a hilarious show!

(Click on the photo for a full size version.)



The cast of Noises Off



Susan Cella, Matthew Schneck, Katie Paxton & Kelsey Didion



The cast of Noises Off



Andrea Cirie, Scott Ripley & Susan Cella



Andrea Cirie, Jeffrey Blair Cornell, Brandon Garegnani, Ray Dooley



Noises Off is now playing through April 22. Click here to learn more!