VIRTUAL MASTERCLASSES

Many of our esteemed Primary Stages family of artists graciously volunteered their time to host FREE Virtual Master Classes at the onset of the pandemic. These videos are brief interviews of our artists talking about their life and career, sharing advice, and answering some “questions from the audience” submitted in advance of these filmings and answered by the artist. Master Class participants included Theresa Rebeck, Kate Hamill, Jason O'Connell, Charles Busch, Donald Margulies, Mary Bacon, Thom Sesma, David Caparelliotis, Kimberly Senior, Stephanie Klapper, Sharon Washington, and more. 

While portions of some of these interviews relate to the specific moment of the pandemic and its impact on artists, we hope that these conversations continue to be a source of comforting free content to keep you engaged and inspire your art.

Virtual masterclasses

  • Charles Busch (Actor, Playwright, Cabaret Performer, Drag Legend; The Tribute Artist, The Confession of Lily Dare at Primary Stages) and Carl Andress (Director; The Tribute Artist, The Confession of Lily Dare) discuss their long history of producing work together, the intricacies of producing theater online, and their most recent film.

  • Mary Bacon (Little Women and The Roads to Home at Primary Stages, Coal Country at The Public Theater) discusses documentary theater, her work in Coal Country at The Public Theater, and advice to actors. Read more about Coal Country here.

  • Latra Ann Wilson and Winston Dynamite Brown (Choreographers/Ensemble of Soil Beneath: An Empirical Decay; Co-Founding Artistic Directors of The DynamitExperience) discuss their process working on Soil Beneath, their dance careers, and the creation of their company The DynamitExperience. For more information about The DynamitExperience, please visit www.thedynamitexperience.com.

  • Charles Busch (Actor, Playwright, Drag Legend; Die Mommie Die!, Psycho Beach Party, The Confession of Lily Dare at Primary Stages) discusses his early career influences, inspiration from movies and experimental Off-Broadway theater, and the origins of some of his many productions.

  • David Caparelliotis (Casting Director, Caparelliotis Casting; “New Amsterdam,” Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Minutes, and King Lear on Broadway) discusses how actors can best prepare to reenter the industry when it reopens, tips for self-taping and auditioning, and the importance of inclusion and diversity in casting.

  • Jennifer Mudge (The Stendhal Syndrome at Primary Stages, Rocky the Musical on Broadway) and Chris Henry Coffey (Bronx Bombers at Primary Stages and on Broadway, Arthur Miller's Resurrection Blues) discuss their early careers and communities, Theater of War, and tips for actors to stay on top of their audition game. For more information about Theater of War, visit theaterofwar.com.

  • Val Day (Artistic Director of 59E59 Theaters, former longtime agent with William Morris and ICM) discusses her career journey from talent agent to artistic director, life at 59E59, and the Primary Stages partnership with 59E59.

  • Stephanie Klapper (Casting Director, Stephanie Klapper Casting; Bronx Bombers, A Christmas Story on Broadway, Pride and Prejudice, Dividing the Estate, and more at Primary Stages) discusses her career in casting, advice for actors auditioning and self-taping, and the realities of theater post-COVID.

  • Donald Margulies (Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner for Dinner with Friends; Writer, Sight Unseen, Collected Stories, Long Lost, The Country House, the Tony Award-nominated Time Stands Still, and the Obie Award-winning The Model Apartment at Primary Stages) discusses his upbringing as a visual artist, his writing process through some of his greatest successes, and the path of his extensive playwriting career.

  • Kate Hamill (Actor, Writer; Pride and Prejudice and Little Women at Primary Stages, Dracula at CSC) and Jason O'Connell (Actor, Director, Writer; Pride and Prejudice and The Dork Knight at Primary Stages, Cyrano at HVSF) discuss the trajectory of their careers in the theater, their work on Pride and Prejudice, and advice to artists at this time.

  • Paola Sanchez Abreu (The Wolves at Lincoln Center Theater, Little Women at Primary Stages) discusses her experience as an up-and-coming actress in the business, including her work on The Wolves and Little Women, and creating her own theater company, The Kaleidoscapes, an eco-theatre troupe.

  • Kimberly Senior (Director, ...Discord at Primary Stages, Disgraced on Broadway) discusses theater that asks a question, being a female director, and the many turning points in her career.

  • Thom Sesma (...Discord at Primary Stages, Unknown Soldier at Playwrights Horizons, Fruiting Bodies at Ma-Yi, title role in Sweeney Todd at Barrow Street Theatre) discusses his experience as an Asian-American actor, his many favorite plays, musicals, and revivals, and advice to his beloved students.

  • Chesney Snow (Creator of Soil Beneath: An Empirical Decay; Actor, In Transit on Broadway; Beatboxing Pioneer) discusses his process working on Soil Beneath, his growth in the beatbox community, advice for BIPOC young people and artists, and his career journey.

  • Sharon Washington (Feeding the Dragon at Primary Stages, The Scottsboro Boys on Broadway, The Joker with Joaquin Phoenix) discusses her training at Yale School of Drama, the process of creating her one woman show Feeding the Dragon, and the difference in mediums between film, television, and theater.

  • Charlayne Woodard (Actor, Playwright; The Night Watcher, "Pose," Ain't Misbehavin' on Broadway) discusses her work on The Night Watcher at Primary Stages, advice for BIPOC young people and artists, and her career journey.

Artists as activists: Excerpts from the off-broadway ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

  • Vinie Burrows (Actor, Writer, Producer, and Activist; The Wisteria Trees, Skin of Our Teeth, and Mrs. Patterson on Broadway, created and produced a repertoire of eight one-woman shows) discusses her career, her work with the UN, and touring her solo performances world-wide.

  • Arthur French (Actor, Director, founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company; The Iceman Cometh (1973), Death of a Salesman (1975), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984), and The Trip to Bountiful (2013) on Broadway) discusses his childhood exposure to theater, balancing his career as a social worker and acting, and his work in Death of a Salesman and A Soldier's Play.

  • Baayork Lee (Actor, Choreographer, Director, and Activist; Original Broadway Productions of A Chorus Line, The King and I, Flower Drum Song) discusses her career and providing opportunities for Asian actors through founding the National Asian Artists Project. 

  • Eduardo Machado (Playwright and Activist; Broken Eggs, Havana is Waiting, Kissing Fidel and The Cook; former Artistic Director of INTAR Theatre) discusses his career, leaving Cuba for the US, and his work with theater companies such as Ensemble Studio Theater and The Public.

  • We honor Terrence McNally (The Stendhal Syndrome, Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams at Primary Stages), for his love of theater and theater artists, for the vast library of timeless new works he left us, for his profound legacy. We are grateful and we are forever changed.

  • Steve Olsen (Owner of West Bank Cafe and the Laurie Beechman Theatre in the West Bank Cafe) discusses his beginnings in the restaurant industry, including the founding of the West Bank Cafe, the beginnings of Theatre Row, and the building of the Laurie Beechman Theatre.

  • Ralph B. Peña (Director, Playwright, and Activist; founding member and current Artistic Director of Ma-Yi Theater Company) discusses his career, using theater as a social instrument in mobilization, and organizing protest theater in the Philippines.