HGLC Special Event-Diner w/Molly Smith, Artistic Director of the Arena Stage
RSVP (required):hglc@yahoo.com
HGLC Special Event - Dinner with Molly Smith, Artistic Director of the Arena Stage
DATE: January 10, 2012
TIME and PLACE: Drinks at 6:30pm. Dinner at 7:30pm.
LOCATION: Eatonville Restaurant
ADDRESS: 2121 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
Metro: Green Line/Yellow Line - U Street/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo Station
COST: Food and drink only, no separate charge
RSVP (required): hglc_dc@yahoo.com
Come join us for an evening with Molly Smith, the artistic director of the Arena Stage.
Over the past 12 seasons, Molly Smith has been instrumental in leading the reinvention of Arena Stage. From the programming for the architecture to the envisioning of the Kogod Cradle, Ms. Smith has focused her creative life on building this new Center for American Theater. This reinvention has been part of a major artistic change as well, into the production, presentation, development, and study of American theater that leads Arena into the 21st century. Ms. Smith has been a passionate leader in new play development for the past 30 years while at Arena Stage as well as at Perseverance Theatre in Alaska, the theater she founded and led for 19 years. She has commissioned or championed numerous world premieres, including Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive and The Mineola Twins; Tim Acito’s The Women of Brewster Place; Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations; Charles Randolph-Wright’s Blue; Zora Neale Hurston’s lost American play, Polk County; Karen Zacarías’ Legacy of Light; and Passion Play, a cycle by Sarah Ruhl; some of which she has directed. She founded Arena’s downstairs series, which has read or workshopped some 60 plays, half of which have gone on to full productions. In 2009, two shows nurtured at Arena Stage (33 Variations and Next to Normal) moved to Broadway. Ms. Smith’s directorial work has also been seen at the Shaw Festival in Canada, Berkeley Rep, Trinity Rep, Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, and Centaur Theatre in Montreal and includes classics such as South Pacific, Mack and Mabel, Anna Christie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Ms. Smith has served as literary advisor to Sundance Theatre Lab and formed the Arena Stage Writers Council, composed of leading American playwrights. An avid traveler, Ms. Smith brings artists of international renown to work at Arena Stage and has served as a member of the board of the Theatre Communications Group as well as the Center for International Theatre Development. She directed two feature films, Raven’s Blood and Making Contact, and received honorary doctorates from both Towson and American universities.
We hope you will join us. Please make sure to invite spouses, partners, and friends for this evening.