clyde's lynn nottage script

I became very interested in the ways that economic stagnation was reshaping the American narrative, she says. (The other characters, in this production, are Black and Latino.) 1995: Nottage enters the NYC theater scene with, a political satire that played at the Vineyard Theatre. That same year, Second Stage also premieres. Kearstin Piper Brown and Justin Austin in the opera Intimate Apparel in New York. %PDF-1.7 Able to change the temperature of a room with an entrance. Letitia (Kara Young) got greedy and stole some oxy and addy to sell on the side after breaking into a pharmacy to obtain seizure medication for her daughter. When that happens, get out of the kitchen! The employees of Clyde's an unassuming caf sitting on a long stretch of road in Pennsylvania, and the name of Lynn Nottage's new play periodically indulge in a whimsical activity. Everybodys entitled to a little privacy. That they discover the power of that imagination in the most unlikely way, by making food, is what makes the play funny. Her director, Al Manners (Michael Zegen), fancies himself a social and artistic progressive. In the process, she encountered a large proportion of people who were formerly incarcerated. In Adubas hilarious and scalding performance, Clyde, wearing a succession of skintight dont-mess-with-me outfits by Jennifer Moeller, is a shape-shifting hellhound, all but breathing fire. Shes like an ungenerous sketch-comedy depiction of a woman we want to meet, whom Aduba could, I think, play well: wrathful and dangerous, yes, but welling up and bubbling over with a pastand some drastic actionto justify it. Hours: Tues Sat from 12pm 5pm, Packages The seeds of great stories have appeared from her childhood, part of the terrain of everyday life. In this case the shortcuts were totally worth it; that Clydes is a comedy does not mean it doesnt have tragedy baked in. (It was originally called Floyds until George Floyd was murdered.) I wanted to capture the energy of one man who was formerly incarcerated and was just a ray of sunshine, she says. At first it seems that Jasons integration into the kitchen will form the storys spine: Tish quickly warns him that she knows all about breaking wild white horses. But it turns out to be less of a spine than a rib. Nottage, in an email, said she was pleased the play was finding an audience. Uzo Aduba as Clyde and Ron Cephas Jones as Montrellous in Lynn Nottages latest play, Clydes, at the Helen Hayes Theater in Manhattan. That same year, Second Stage also premieres Crumbs from the Table of Joy, a memory play about teenagers struggling to cope with their mothers death. Theres something alien and ineffable about them that cant be reduced to mere facts, or be rationalized by psychology. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Though it ultimately rejects the Greek model, it is still about gods and mortals. Anyone can read what you share. She is a professor of Playwriting at Columbia University. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Still, the most interesting people, onstage and in our lives, hold on to a whiff of mystery. Nottage uses the setting of a diner frequented mostly by truckers to create scenarios of conversations among four sandwich makers about imprisonment. x\YS#G~'j]GB `v|y2,~3$\VWUUeVo~Nq4ayrrH~;%%VH_%'9 wph Here, those skills are tossed aside. In the kitchen of the truck stop diner that gives the play its title, the cooks making the sandwiches have all served time. Its a comedy, but its not turning away from the world.. I decided that I could research what her life would have been like. "Feisty comedy is on the menu" (Washington Post) in two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's latest Broadway triumph. Speaking of justification, Trouble in Mindthe 1955 play by Alice Childress, now making its much belated dbut on Broadway (directed by Charles Randolph-Wright for Roundabout Theatre Company, at the American Airlines Theatre)slowly unravels an aging actress named Wiletta (LaChanze), who is reluctantly exposed to an acting approach that asks her to find emotions to support the actions of her character. I found a passport photograph of [my grandmother] with my great-grandmother and sister. In Intimate Apparel, the bedroom. Ad Choices. a memory play about teenagers struggling to cope with their mothers death. September 10 - October 9 in the Albert Theatre. Dominatrix. When Rafael complains about the rotting Chilean sea bass she expects him to cook, she responds, approximately, You think Colonel Sanders didnt fry up a couple of rats to make ends meet?. But they were people who werent seen by popular culture. Notably, though composers are not tracked by the survey, work with songs by Stephen Sondheim is experiencing a spike in popularity since his death last year, with at least 19 productions planned around the country. The actors for the September 18 performance were Clyde, Danielle Davis; Montrellous, Kevin Kenerly; Rafael, Reza Salazar; Jason, Garrett Young and Letitia played by Nedra Snipes. In the kitchen of a truck stop diner near Reading, PA, a group of formerly incarcerated cooks work together to get their shot at redemption. 11:15 am. 2001: After taking some time away around the birth of her daughter, Nottage returns to the theater with Las Meninas (San Jose Repertory Theatre), which follows the affair between Queen Marie-Therese and Nabo, her African servant. Their first collaboration, 2003 . Shes not the only cynical one: her castmate Millie (the very funny Jessica Frances Dukes) is in a wry fury about how poorly shes served by the roles shes made to play. Previews began November 3. "The feel-good play of the season!" -Adam Feldman, Time Out New YorkWatch a sneak peek of Clyde's by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate W. Clydes, which opened on Broadway late last year, featured Edmund Donovan as one of several ex-cons-turned-sandwich-makers. This is supposed to deepen the bonds among them, and, perhaps, to offer a well of complexity not often granted to working-class people chewed up by the system and given a harsh set of choices: eat shit, starve, or go back in. Playwrights sometimes do the same. A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. 2021: Nottage writes the book for MJ, the Michael Jackson jukebox musical. Clydes is suggested for ages 13 and up. The finding that fewer productions are being mounted is troubling, though not surprising artistic directors around the country have been saying that they were ramping back up slowly after the pandemic shutdown because audiences have not come back in prepandemic numbers. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. 1995: Nottage enters the NYC theater scene with Por'Knockers, a political satire that played at the . The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Thats the only thing we ever really learnor, at least, think we learnabout Clyde. Seductive. "A truck-stop diner is a space of . The puzzle of someones bearing and outward presentation gives way to the collection of secrets and fears and family history that make upand, over time, help to explainthat person. By putting them into a character whose goal is in fact to educate, and by blowing them up into amusing overstatements, she keeps the play itself from becoming gassy. As the day wears on, Clyde is constantly ringing the bell for sandwich orders to be taken, as she periodically flirts with Jason while wearing suggestive clothing with matching boots. Over Zoom from London, where shes in previews for her new project, The Secret Life of Bees, she draws me warmly into conversation. Much of the problem lies with Clyde herself. She begins asking questions that the script, and her director, just cant answer. Mass Market Paperback. We dont at first get the story of how Montrellous (Ron Cephas Jones) wound up behind bars, but he is so saintly that Letitia, called Tish, believes it must have been elective. Thats the kind of place this is. 1993: Lynn Nottage makes her professional debut with the Actors ' Theatre of Louisville's production of Poof, a one-act comedy about a woman whose abusive husband spontaneously combusts. Lynn Nottage's new play, "Clyde's," directed by Kate Whoriskey (at the Helen Hayes), about the staff of a run-down sandwich joint at a truck stop, takes a stark either-or stance regarding. Still, wheres the action? The complete lists are at americantheatre.org. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Part of my desire as I got older was to amplify some of the beautiful and important and tragic stories that I heard.. Often, the sessions lead to bouts of confessionall the employees give up the goods on why they did time, even, eventually, Jason. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here. 2 0 obj This was my first time at a performing arts theatre since late February 2020, and it was a delicious treat. And these distractions and a ghosted date with Letitia cause him to fall off the wagon and begin using drugs again. How economic stagnation is reshaping the American narrative on stage. Tish (Kara Young, who spins great performances out of straw in every show I see her in) is a single mom saddled by a trifling, untrustworthy co-parent. Clydes opens May 5 at the Ensemble Theatre. But the life stories come between slapstick riffs on sandwich-making and kitchen etiquettea bunch of well-performed gagsand as a result the play has trouble finding its tone. SPECIAL NOTE: A required Production Package consisting of 5 Acting Editions, 2 Stage Manager Editions, 2 Director's Scripts and a Logo Pack is required for production. Into this uncomfortable equilibrium comes Jason (Edmund Donovan), recently out of prison and covered with white supremacist tattoos. A playwright and a screenwriter, Nottage is the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. a one-act comedy about a woman whose abusive husband spontaneously combusts. 1 0 obj It contains adult language and adult themes. In the kitchen of a truck stop diner near Reading, PA, a group of formerly incarcerated cooks work together to get their shot at redemption. Nottage tells me she understood how to write the play when she came across the Japanese notion of wabi sabi, the ability to find beauty in things that are broken. Clydes centres around a truck-stop diner. 2003: Inspired by her grandmothers persistence as a New York City seamstress, Nottage writes. At the 2022 Tonys, Nottage is nominated for both Clydes and MJ. Yet in Clydes, Nottage does something shrewd with the obvious underlinings that can sometimes make her meticulously researched plays feel didactic. Opening Night is September 19, 2022. Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter . Subscribe to our mailing list to receives daily updates direct to your inbox! (The pyrotechnics are by J&M Special Effects.) Aduba, far left, as the shady restaurant proprietor Clyde, and her cooks, from left: Reza Salazar, Kara Young, Jones and Edmund Donovan. Tish, in Youngs superb performance, is a smart, sharp, heavily defended kitten; Rafael, a huggable romantic; Montrellous, an impeccably kind sage like a Buddha, Rafael says, if hed grown up in the hood. Jones fulfills that description perfectly, correcting for the characters Zen imperturbability with subtle dashes of pain and sacrifice. which follows the ghost of a slaughtered elephant. Though not indifferent to suffering, she tells Montrellous, she doesnt do pity, which is an understatement. On a long stretch of highway, in the middle of here and there, Clydes truck stop diner sizzles with the aroma of possibility and redemption.Between slinging grilled cheese and tuna melts, the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff at Clydes dream of creating the perfect recipe. boxofficer@ardentheatre.org. Nottage grew up in Boerum Hill, a Brooklyn neighbourhood that was once a haven for artists, hippies and working-class communities. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice; the first in 2009 for Ruined, and the second in 2017 for Sweat. The three other cooks, with their softball crimes, begin to seem a pinch too adorable. Sweat, the 2017 play for which she won her second Pulitzer, revolves around a group of steelworkers grappling with the decline of the American Rust Belt. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Hes trying to make high art out of a play he doesnt know is offensive trash. EDWARD ALBEES WHOS AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. When she speaks, she moves often within the space of a sentence between gravitas and levity. The systems that control our lives institutional racism, predatory capitalism, the prison-industrial complex seem as powerful and implacable as gods. She is bent on making the crew miserable, while hopping all over each other to answer her commands. She speaks about the idea of theatre as a form of archive, an idea she credits to the late George Bass, a teacher who was an influence at Brown University. She rages through the kitchen, spewing just enough bile to get the objects of her tyranny complaining again, but shes never subjected to the kind of scrutiny that makes watching a character worthwhile. Even a schmuck like Manners can read some Stanislavsky, bring it clumsily into rehearsals, and, unwittingly, spark the beginnings of a revolution. WINNER: 4 DRAMA DESK AWARDS NOMINATED: 5 TONY AWARDS, INCLUDING BEST NEW PLAY. This person who is deeply compassionate and mindful and invested in community.. Theaters around America appear to be staging fewer shows than they were before the pandemic, but a lot of the work they are doing is by Lynn Nottage. At her best, her eyes, deep with feeling, are like bowls left out in the rain, steadily filling up with the liquid stuff of personality. 2004: Nottage follows up her success with Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Baltimore Center Stage), a sort of modern-day companion piece to Intimate Apparel. Single Tickets The production was directed by Kate Whoriskey and starred Uzo Aduba , Ron Cephas Jones , Edmund Donovan , Reza Salazar, and Kara Young. Shes trying to hold on to her job as she simultaneously tries to secure adequate childcare. All the cooks have served time. ee#{Jn`j}$O3$x;$3$22)C"3c\lljI%&EI>rxyY^NQ31(Oi9{lPe,yuL*wfIsUQX_8}%g`Mx*fgd0YZ[W^Wr@;t Lynn Nottage has sometimes been one of them. (In New York, there are three: Into the Woods, which opened on Broadway this summer; Merrily We Roll Along, running at New York Theater Workshop this winter; and Sweeney Todd, coming to Broadway next spring.). Even as the shops menacing owner, Clyde, tries to keep them under her thumb, the staff members are given purpose and permission to dream by their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich. The sandwich that they are struggling with is not complete until everyone makes a contribution. She always wants the sandwiches to come out faster, and she has no patience for the culinary ambition thats growing in the kitchen under her nose. Second Stage Theater's production of Lynn Nottage's new play CLYDE'S opens tonight, Tuesday November 23, 2021, at Second Stage's Broadway home, the Hayes Theater (240 W 44th Street at 8th Avenue). 2011: Nottage goes for bright, nuanced, comedy with By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Second Stage), a runaway hit exploring 70 years in the life of a (fictional) Hollywood starlet. September 23, 2022. Last show I was in, I wouldnt even tell my relatives, Millie says. Creating the perfect sandwich is the shared quest of the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff of Clydes, a truck stop cafe. Call it soul. What is Clyde but a greasy-spoon Satan, the diabolical voice seductively whispering Dont get too high on hope to people trying to escape their past? Each character in Lynn Nottage's play shares a common bit of history-each has been incarcerated. Nottage writes plays that are peopled by complex characters. They are not merely victims of fate; they can use their moral imagination to resist the Clydes of this world. She leans beautifully into the sweetness of the cooks but also, bending the other way, into the sourness of Clyde, for whom Nottage has written great zingers. Because they were formerly incarcerated, they didnt have access to many things that we take for granted., A Lynn Nottage play often makes use of a liminal space. Clyde is an ex-convict, and so are the people who work for her, a fact that she hangs over their heads like rain in a cloud at every opportunitynobody else is going to hire them, so theyd better submit to her whims, however brutal. . Synopsis The play takes place in Clyde's, a truck stop sandwich shop frequented by truckers making the long journey across Pennsylvania. vi|IgOUZi3#Q_`njK2YO1t0)lxxQeUX./OmrI@|2eVp&wC>% 8@c  !8nvlDux?Q8p2;wpn|?4~!2VL q'pq&+yW ]o f "}Dp\ ^F Montrellous lets slip that Clyde has fallen into gambling debt, and that the shop is somehow mixed up in the trouble. Dominic ChaconSound DesignerStephon DorseyStage ManagerAlec E. FerrellAssistant to the Stage ManagerKatie Meade, Thursday, January 26, 2023, 7:00 PMPreview, Saturday, January 28, 2023, 8:00 PMPreview, Tuesday, January 31, 2023, 7:00 PMPreview, Wednesday, February 1, 2023, 7:00 PMOpening Night Sold Out, Friday, February 24, 2023, 8:00 PMAudio Description/Caption, Saturday, February 25, 2023, 2:00 PMAudio Description/Caption, 215.922.1122 In Kate Whoriskeys brisk and thoroughly satisfying production for Second Stage Theater, we learn that, unlike Oedipus and his mom, people who may have little else nevertheless have choices. 1993: Lynn Nottage makes her professional debut with the Actors Theatre of Louisvilles production of Poof, a one-act comedy about a woman whose abusive husband spontaneously combusts. She does so not because she too was once incarcerated; dont accuse her of a soft heart. which follows the affair between Queen Marie-Therese and Nabo, her African servant. Lynn Nottage was born in Brooklyn in 1964, the daughter of a school teacher and a child psychologist. People who have seen Sweat will recognize him as one of the perpetrators of a heinous attack on a Colombian American busboy at the climax of that play, also set in Reading. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (for RUINED and SWEAT) Lynn Nottage layers ripe wit, flavourful characters and surprises in this poignant story of sandwiches and second chances. Comprised of formerly incarcerated individuals, the staff come together to find fulfillment both in their lives and in creating the perfect sandwich. As the joints proprietor, Clyde (Uzo Aduba), enjoys pointing out, shes the only employer in Reading, Penn., who will hire morons like them. Lynn Nottage's 'Clyde's' Is the Most-Staged Play in America An annual survey, suspended during the pandemic, resumes and finds theaters nationally doing fewer shows and torn between. In Sweat, a dive bar. Uzo Aduba is one of my favorite televisual performers of recent yearsas Suzanne (Crazy Eyes) Warren in Netflixs Orange Is the New Black, and as the therapist Brooke Taylor in the new season of HBOs In Treatmentlargely because she holds within her characters, and gradually reveals, many layers of tenderness and brokenness, irrationality and explosive pain. Character development in drama is similar to a growing friendshipa process of gradual divulgence. Letitia has served time for stealing from a pharmacy to ensure that her special needs daughter is well cared for. Both approaches render surfaces rather than spirit. Led by sandwich sensei Montrellous, can the team juggle customer orders, darkpasts and their boss incessant mind games to avoid having theiraspirations burnt to a crisp? In Lynn Nottages bright new comedy, cooks at a greasy spoon dream of remaking the menu and their lives. 2022: Clydes joins MJ on Broadway, while across town at the Met, Nottage collaborates with composer Ricky Ian Gordon to producer the opera version of Intimate Apparel. My daughter was born and then my mother died, and it shifted my notion of what and who I wanted to write about, she says. Clyde's Photo Gallery. Her plays have been produced at theaters throughout the country. After work, she would invite a bunch of friends and over a big bottle of wine they would sit and drink and tell stories and never get up, she smiles. Even as the shops mischievous owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the staffers are given purpose and permission to dreamfinding that sometimes a hero is more than a sandwich (New York Times). An annual survey by American Theater magazine, conducted this year for the first time since the start of the pandemic, found that Nottages sandwich shop comedy, Clydes, will be the most-produced play in the country this season, with at least 11 productions. Clydes is a great, fast-paced play that, in addition to providing humor as the crew concoct delicious sandwiches, also brings to light the situations that landed them in prison and rails against the prison system for reasons that the sandwich makers find unjust. Purchase a subscription for the 2023/24 Season. Clydes brings an extra funny performance looking at the industrial prison system and searching the publics palates for what could be the best sandwich ever! A Lynn Nottage play often makes use of a liminal space. Atlanta, GA 30303, 678.528.1500 Update: After publishing its survey results on Friday, American Theater magazine amended its lists to reflect new information. Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season It is appropriate for audiences aged teens and up. 2003: Inspired by her grandmothers persistence as a New York City seamstress, Nottage writes Intimate Apparel; the play debuts at Baltimore Center Stage to widespread critical acclaim, and Nottage becomes one of the nations most prominent theatrical figures. Rafael (Reza Salazar) held up a bank but (a) with a BB gun, and (b) only because he wanted to buy his girlfriend a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. The season kicks off with the regional premiere of "Clyde's" (Sept. 22-Oct. 15).Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's play is set at a truck stop sandwich shop where its formerly . Clyde's, the new play from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, opens on Broadway November 23 at Second Stage's Helen Hayes Theater. At Studio Theatre, Lynn Nottage's 'Clyde's' serves up hope and humor Review by Celia Wren March 8, 2023 at 1:34 p.m. EST From left: Brandon Ocasio, Dee Dee Batteast and Lamont Thompson in. 2004: Nottage follows up her success with, Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine, 2008: After several years of research, Nottage wins her first Pulitzer for, 2011: Nottage goes for bright, nuanced, comedy with.

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