Tony Award Winners on Downstage Center

Joe Mantello (2011 Tony Award nominee for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for his performance in “The Normal Heart”; 2004 Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Musical for “Assassins” and 2003 Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Play for “Take Me Out”) talks about returning to the Broadway stage as an actor after a 17-year hiatus to pl

Jason Robert Brown (1999 Tony Award winner for Best Original Score for “Parade”), who prefers the title "songwriter" over "composer," talks about why he spends so much time performing his own material and engaging directly with his fans. He discusses writing all of his songs "in his own voice"; his short time at Rochester's esteemed Eastman School of Music; coming to New York,

From London, National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner (2006 Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Play for “The History Boys”; 1994 Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Musical for “Carousel”) talks about his tenure leading that influential institution, including whether, as some have said, it was always his career goal; why he thrives on the need to embr

Acclaimed for his works of fiction, non-fiction, philosophy, and theatre, Michael Frayn (2000 Tony Award winner for Best Play for “Copenhagen”) discusses how he determines when an idea is right for the stage when he has multiple forms to choose from. He also recalls writing and performing childhood puppet plays; the reason why his edition of Cambridge's Footlights Revue was the

Manhattan Theatre Club’s Executive Producer Barry Grove (Tony Award winner for Best Play in 2005 for “Doubt, 2001 for “Proof”, and 1995 for “Love! Valour! Compassion!”) talks about his three-and-half decades of partnership with Lynne Meadow at the top of one of New York's largest not-for-profit theatres. He recalls about his introduction to theatre while growing up in M

Stockard Channing (1985 Tony Award winner for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for “Joe Egg”) discusses her work in Jon Robin Baitz's new play “Other Desert Cities”, acknowledging the ambiguity of the character for the audience and explaining whether she has defined her character's secret motivations with certainty. She also talks about her years b

Playwright/director George C. Wolfe (1993 Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Play for “Angels in America”; 1996 Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Musical for “Bring in ‘da Noise/Bring in ‘da Funk”) discusses the seven year development of John Guare's “A Free Man of Color”, from approaching Guare with the idea of merging Restoration comedies and life i

“The Addams Family” and “Elf's” lighting designer Natasha Katz (2000 Tony Award winner for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for “Aida”; 2007 Tony Award winner for Best Lighting Design of a Play for “The Coast of Utopia”) talks about the path of her career, beginning with a high school community service requirement that saw her volunteering at a (now-defunct) Off-Br

Composer John Kander (Tony Award winner for Best Original Score in 1967 for “Cabaret”, 1981 for “Woman of the Year”, and 1993 for “Kiss of the Spider-Woman”) talks about his decades-long collaboration with Fred Ebb, with particular focus on the four projects that were not fully completed before Ebb's death in 2004: “The Scottsboro Boys”, “The Visit”, “All Abou

South African playwright Athol Fugard (Recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement) discusses his newest work, “The Train Driver”, during rehearsals at the Long Wharf Theatre, and explains why this play marks the end of a stage in his writing -- but promises that he'll die with a fountain pen in one hand and a blank sheet of paper in the other. He also talks about