As the holiday season approaches, Greenwich Library invites you to an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the professionals who make Broadway productions possible. On Saturday, November 23 at 3:00pm, join us in the Berkley Theater for a captivating panel discussion with three Broadway creatives. Discover the hard work and show business magic that goes into bringing a Broadway show to life. Registration is required on the Library’s online calendar.
The panel will include critically acclaimed writer Aurin Squire (A Wonderful World, television’s This is Us), Tony Award-winning lighting designer Justin Townsend (Death Becomes Her and Once Upon a Mattress), and legendary director Tina Landau (Redwood and Floyd Collins). Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear from masters of their craft in the Library’s Berkley Theater.
Aurin Squire
Aurin Squire is a playwright, reporter, and screenwriter from South Florida. He has been awarded the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, Seattle Public Theater’s Emerald Prize for new plays, and fellowships at National Black Theatre and The Dramatists Guild. His political satire Obama-ology was first developed at The Juilliard School’s summer workshop before being produced in London, Los Angeles, and Dallas. Squire was also a writer for Miami New Drama’s 7 Deadly Sins, which won a Drama League Award for Outstanding Interactive Theatre, and Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy, co-written with Billy Corben. In TV, Squire was a co-executive producer and writer on The Good Fight and Evil. He has been nominated for two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, a Black Reel Award, and a WGA Award for his work on This is Us. Most recently, he wrote the book for A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical on Broadway. He is a New Dramatists resident playwright, a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America. He graduated from The Juilliard School and Northwestern University.
Justin Townsend
Justin Townsend is an international lighting designer for performance. Broadway lighting designs include Death Becomes Her, Once Upon a Mattress, Here Lies Love, Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award), Jagged Little Pill (Tony Nomination), American Psycho (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Henry Hewes Award), The Humans (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), The Nap, Little Foxes, Present Laughter, Casa Valentina, A Night with Janis Joplin (NAACP Theatre Award), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Other Place, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Hewes Nomination, OCC Nomination). Justin received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design in 2014. He is the Chair of the Department of Design for Stage and Film at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. www.justintownsend.com
Tina Landau
Tina Landau.is a writer, director, and teacher whose work includes directing/conceiving her original musical Floyd Collins, Redwood, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Head of Passes (Steppenwolf, The Public and the Mark Taper Forum), WIG OUT! (Vineyard Theatre), and In the Red and Brown Water (The Public), Bill Irwin/David Shiner’s Old Hats, Chuck Mee’s Big Love and Iphigenia 2.0 (all Signature Theatre), Paula Vogel’s A Civil War Christmas (New York Theatre Workshop). On Broadway, Landau also directed Tracy Letts’s Superior Donuts, and the revival of Bells are Ringing. At Steppenwolf, where she is an ensemble member, directing credits include The Wheel, Hot L Baltimore, The Brother/Sister Plays, The Tempest, The Time of Your Life (also Seattle Rep, ACT), The Diary of Anne Frank, The Cherry Orchard, The Ballad of Little Jo, Berlin Circle and her own play Space (also Mark Taper Forum, The Public). Landau co-authored The Viewpoints Book with Anne Bogart and has taught regularly at such schools as Yale, Columbia, Harvard, and Northwestern. Awards include USA Fellow, Princess Grace Award, TCG/NEA Director Fellowship, Pew, J. Alton Jones, and Rockefeller.
For more information about the panel discussion, please contact Performing Arts Librarian Travis Milliman at [email protected]. This program is made possible by charitable contributions from our community.