Post-performance Talk-back at the Zach Theatre with Robert Schnekkan, author of THE GREAT SOCIETY, March 3, 2017

THE GREAT SOCIETY POST-SHOW TALKBACK

WITH PLAYWRIGHT ROBERT SCHENKKAN

 

Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award® winning playwright Robert Schenkkan,

Director Dave Steakley and The Great Society cast

at ZACH Theatre on Friday, March 3

 

(www.zachtheatre.org) Post-show talkback with The Great Society playwright, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award® winner Robert Shenkkan, ZACH’s Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and the cast of ZACH Theatre’s The Great Society.

Friday, March 3, 2017, post-show

 ZACH’s Topfer Theatre, 202 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704

The Great Society is the second of Robert Schenkkan’s LBJ plays exploring Texas’ own political mastermind and his memorable years in the White House. Despite division over the Vietnam War and ongoing civil rights issues, Johnson championed the most ambitious legislative work – an end to poverty and racial injustice, education for all school children, healthcare for seniors, and voting rights – in his vision of a Great Society. In this political thrill ride, The Great Society examines who we are, asks how we got here, and dreams of how great we could yet become. Steve Vinovich returns to the role of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, after his acclaimed performance in ZACH’s All the Way. By the end of The Great Society, you’ll be surprised to learn this political thrill ride was written three short years ago. Timely and all-too relevant today, Robert Schenkkan’s play which has been unedited since its debut at Seattle Repertory Theatre in December of 2014, reflects our not-too-distant past and our all-too-real present.

TICKETS: www.zachtheatre.org or (512) 476-0541 x.1

 

About the author, ROBERT SCHENKKAN: Plays: The Kentucky Cycle (Pulitzer Prize; Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards nominations and LA Drama Critics Award), By the Rivers of Babylon, Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates, Handler, Heaven on Earth, Final Passages, The Marriage of Miss Hollywood and King Neptune, Tachinoki, The Devil and Daniel Webster, A Single Shard, The Dream Thief. Musicals: The Twelve, A Night at the Alhambra Café. Film: The Quiet American. Television: The Pacific (two Emmy nominations and a WGA Award), The Andromeda Strain, Crazy Horse, and Spartacus. All the Way won the inaugural Edward Kennedy Award, and the National Critics Association/Steinberg Best New Play Award. Its sequel, The Great Society, premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in July, 2014. www.robertschenkkan.com

 

DAVE STEAKLEY (Producing Artistic Director) is now in his 26th season, and is dedicated to creating a theatre of, by and for Austin – a place where our entire community gathers to share an intimate and extraordinary theatre experience. Led by Dave’s vision, the creation of the Topfer Theatre came to fruition, opening in October 2012 with the acclaimed musical Ragtime. Anna Deavere Smith says, “Dave is the future. The YES in his theater’s walls is as palpable as the walls themselves. That YES, I believe, will lead to something brand new, to connect with a broader, more global audience.”

With Dave as artistic leader, ZACH has produced multiple World Premieres by Anna Deavere Smith, Steven Dietz, Jaston Williams, Everett Quinton, John Walch,  Allen Robertson and The Flaming Idiots. ZACH served as the Central Texas hub of the nationwide 365 Plays/365 Days Festival by Suzan-Lori Parks. Dave created the first  bilingual adaptation of Webber and Rice’s musical Jesucristo Superstar, and set  The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans with a jazz/R&B  reinvention, which received national acclaim from The New York Times and about which Todd Gershwin says, “It was Dave’s creative production of Porgy and Bess that really opened my eyes to the need to finally allow a creative team to interpret the opera in a fresh manner, which led to the recent Broadway production.”

Dave has directed many ZACH productions, and some favorite experiences include:  Mary Poppins, Tribes, Mothers and Sons, All the Way, A Christmas Carol: A Rockin’ New Musical, The Who’s Tommy; The Gospel at Colonus; Harvey; 33 Variations; Ragtime; Next to Normal; Hairspray; August: Osage County; RENT; Metamorphoses; Our Town; Caroline, or Change; The Clean House;  Take Me Out; I Am My Own Wife; Urinetown; Crowns; Omnium-Gatherum; Hedwig; Jelly’s Last Jam; The America Play; Dreamgirls; Angels in America and the first professional repertory production of The Laramie Project, and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.

His regional directing credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, New Stage Theatre, American Heartland Theatre, WaterTower Theatre, and Pittsburgh’s City Theatre. He is the playwright of ZACH’s A Christmas Carol, Rockin’ Christmas Party, and Keepin’ It Weird, featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and American Theatre. Dave serves as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre.

City of Austin Mayors Kirk Watson and Lee Leffingwell declared, respectively, May 18, 2001 and October 22, 2011 as “Dave Steakley Day” on the occasion of his 10th and 20th ZACH Anniversaries. He is the recipient of the 2015 First Tee of Greater Austin Courtesy Award, the 2013 Human Rights Campaign Austin Visibility Award, 2010 Kick Ass Award, 2005 Austin Circle of Theaters’ “Outstanding Contribution to Austin Theatre” Award, seven Austin Chronicle “Best of Austin Best Stage Director” awards, the 2000 Austin Under 40 Outstanding Arts and Entertainment Award, and multiple Austin Critics’ Table and B. Iden Payne Awards for “Outstanding Director/Choreographer.” In 2009, he was crowned Austin Dancing with the Stars Champion, and he has a cameo in Richard Linklater’s 2012 film Bernie with Jack Black.

About ZACH Theatre

A non-profit organization, ZACH creates intimate theatre experiences that ignite the imagination, inspire the spirit, and engage the community. As Austin’s leading professional producing theatre, ZACH employs more than 300 actors, musicians, and designers annually to create its own diverse array of nationally recognized plays and musicals under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and Managing Director Elisbeth Challener. Each year, ZACH serves nearly 115,000 Central Texans – 55,000 of which are children and youth who participate in our education and outreach programs, as well as inspiring camps and classes. ZACH Theatre is honored to host private and community events across the beautiful rental-ready spaces on our three-stage campus located in the heart of Austin. Founded in 1932 and in its 84nd season, ZACH is the longest continuously running theatre company in the state of Texas, and one of the ten oldest in the country. Visit www.zachtheatre.org for more information.

ZACH Theatre’s 2016-17 Season is sponsored in part, by AT&T, Austin Catering, Baylor Scott & White Health, Dell, H-E-B, Holiday Inn-Lady Bird Lake, Kirk Tuck Photography, Marquee Event Group, OnRamp Access, and Schlotzsky’s; and by grants from The Shubert Foundation, the Junior League of Austin, The National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Cultural Arts Division of The City of Austin Economic Development Department.

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