CLYDE’S AND MINDFULLNESS: A CONVERSATION WITH LYNN NOTTAGE
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Welcome to The Scene, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed. In this week’s email:
THE BROADWAY BEAT: Video of a kid singing showtunes went viral, now Delta is helping him get to Broadway; A crash course on the musical PARADE; Ato Blankson-Wood will star in HAMLET for 61st season of free Shakespeare in the Park; And the original Broadway cast of PIPPIN To reunite.
HOT TOPICS: TOPDOG/UNDERDOG's Yahya Abdul-Mateen II & Corey Hawkins talk with NYC Public School Students and Educators; Applications open for the Theatre Producers of Color’s ‘Producing 101’ program; The Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative announces a deadline extension for ALWI Training Scholarships.
THE BIG IDEA: CLYDE’S and Mindfulness: A Conversation with Lynn Nottage.
The Broadway Beat
A VIDEO OF A KID SINGING SHOWTUNES WENT VIRAL, NOW DELTA IS HELPING HIM GET TO BROADWAY - A TikTok clip of young Nathan Broxton singing along to the new Matilda film has captivated social media, leading to love from the Broadway community.
A CRASH COURSE ON THE MUSICAL PARADE – The musical will open Thursday, March 16, 2023 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway.
ATO BLANKSON-WOOD WILL STAR IN HAMLET FOR 61ST SEASON OF FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK - Tony winner Kenny Leon will direct the summer engagement at the Delacorte.
ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST OF PIPPIN TO REUNITE FOR 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT AT 54 BELOW – The PIPPIN 50th Anniversary Original Broadway Cast Reunion Concert will stream live on February 7th.
Hot Topics
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG'S YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II & COREY HAWKINS LEAD TALKBACK WITH NYC PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS & EDUCATORS - The special event provided students with an opportunity to dive deep into questions of artistry.
APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR THEATRE PRODUCERS OF COLOR’S ‘PRODUCING 101’ PROGRAM - TPOC has announced the third year of its annual educational program “Producing 101.”
THE ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER INITIATIVE ANNOUNCES A DEADLINE EXTENSION FOR ALWI TRAINING SCHOLARSHIPS - US Public school students in grades 6-11 have until January 27, 2023, to apply.
The Big Idea
CLYDE’S AND MINDFULLNESS: A CONVERSATION WITH LYNN NOTTAGE
By Arlene Hellerman
Question: How can a play about making sandwiches also be a play about ways to deal with stress? Answer: When the play is CLYDE’S, and making sandwiches is way to explore the process of Mindfulness.
Playwright Lynn Nottage explained in an interview, “Mindfulness is an outlook. It's a way in which we approach life, and the things that we do with a sense of intention, and respect. [CLYDE’S] is a play about a sandwich shop. The making of the sandwich is a metaphor for the experience of being mindful. It's how do we assemble the set of ingredients in a way that's purposeful. It's done with a sense of love and intention.”
The Scene reached out to Ms. Nottage to talk more mindfulness in CLYDE’S and the ways in which she uses it, not only in the play, but also in her life and her work.
THE SCENE: Can you talk about the connection between CLYDE’S and mindfulness?
LYNN NOTTAGE: In CLYDE’S, the characters are all formerly incarcerated and dealing with real world issues, but I wanted it to find a way to convey the weight of their dilemmas that sustained their complexity while also giving them a path toward healing and the resurrection of their spirits. I find that humor is disarming, and laughter is a conduit through which you can filter truth.
I began thinking about this story while I was interviewing people in Reading, PA for my play SWEAT. It is a small city at the tall end of the rust belt. It once had a robust economy, factories, mills, outlet malls, in fact there was a time when a person could get off a bus and easily find a well-paying job, including folx just released from prison.
But deindustrialization and the subsequent economic downturn hit that city hard, opportunity shrank, but the prison system continued to send people to Reading after their release. I spoke to a number of formerly incarcerated folx who were keen to get back to work, but found themselves, due their status, unemployed and stuck in a liminal space.
THE SCENE: Did you set out to write a play about mindfulness, or did mindfulness come into the play you were writing?
LYNN NOTTAGE: I began writing CLYDE’S around the same time that I was incorporating mindfulness into my life as a practice. I was also interested in the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi, which explores ephemerality and the act of finding beauty in things that are often deemed imperfect. The meditative practice of seemingly broken people preparing food, became a lovely metaphor for impermanence, creativity, mindfulness, resilience, community and healing.
THE SCENE: What is mindfulness?
LYNN NOTTAGE: I think of mindfulness as the ability to center, ground, the spirit in midst the whirlwind of thoughts swirling around us. Mindfulness is a refuge, an intentionally carved out space where we can settle our minds and live fully in the moment. To quote Thich Nhat Hanh:
“The idea is simply not to allow yourself to get lost in regrets about the past or worries about the future. If you are firmly grounded in the present moment, the past can be an object of inquiry, the object of your mindfulness and concentration. You can attain many insights by looking into the past. But you are still grounded in the present moment.”
THE SCENE: Can you give an example of the way a character uses mindfulness techniques in the play?
LYNN NOTTAGE: Tish is a young mother, who supports her daughter with severe cerebral palsy, a deadbeat boyfriend and her entire family on the meager salary that she makes at CLYDE’S sandwich shop. Tish is so busy that she doesn’t have the space or time to dream. Her co-worker, Montrellous, who is a Buddha-like culinary savant, helps her focus her energy and find beauty in the mere act of making a sandwich with love, invention and intention. He demonstrates that the tools in the kitchen, salt, pepper, thyme and relish, when wielded with mindfulness, are enough to combat the perpetual state of anxiety that keeps people prisoners of their own minds. Making great sandwiches becomes their weapon of resistance.
THE SCENE: Montrellous seems to be encouraging Rafael, Letitia, and Jason to use it as a way to enhance their work. Do you use mindfulness as a writer to improve your work?
LYNN NOTTAGE: Mindfulness is such a helpful practice for a writer, particularly someone like me who gets easily distracted. It has allowed me to be more present and intentional in the way I approach my craft, but also more forgiving when I find myself stuck and unable to write.
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Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter. She is the first, and remains the only, woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world.
Most recently, Nottage premiered MJ THE MUSICAL, directed by Christopher Wheeldon and featuring the music of Michael Jackson, at the Neil Simon Theater on Broadway, CLYDE'S directed by Kate Whoriskey at Second Stage Theater on Broadway and an opera adaptation of her play Intimate Apparel composed by Ricky Ian Gordon and directed by Bart Sher, commissioned by The Met/Lincoln Center Theater.
Her other work includes, FLOYD'S (retitled- CLYDE'S) (Guthrie Theater), the musical adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's novel THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, with music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead (The Atlantic Theater), MLIMA’S TALE (Public Theater), BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK (Lilly Award, Drama Desk Nomination- Second Stage/Signature Theater), RUINED (Pulitzer Prize, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Audelco, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award- MTC/Goodman Theater); INTIMATE APPAREL (American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Play Center Stage/SCR/ Roundabout Theater); FABULATION, OR THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE (OBIE Award - Playwrights Horizons/Signature Theater); CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY; LAS MENINAS; MUD, RIVER, STONE; POR’KNOCKERS; and POOF!
Her play SWEAT (Pulitzer Prize, Evening Standard Award, Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Tony Nomination, Drama Desk Nomination) moved to Broadway after a sold-out run at The Public Theater. It premiered and was commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival American Revolutions History Cycle/Arena Stage. Inspired by her research on SWEAT, Nottage developed This is Reading, a performance installation based on two years of interviews, at the Franklin Street, Reading Railroad Station in Reading, PA in July 2017.
Nottage is the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship, Steinberg "Mimi" Distinguished Playwright Award, PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award, William Inge Festival Distinguished Playwright, TIME 100 (2019), Signature One Playwright, Merit and Literature Award from The Academy of Arts and Letters, Columbia University Provost Grant, Doris Duke Artist Award, The Joyce Foundation Commission Project & Grant, Madge Evans-Sidney Kingsley Award, Nelson A. Rockefeller Award for Creativity, The Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, the inaugural Horton Foote Prize, Helen Hayes Award, the Lee Reynolds Award, and the Jewish World Watch iWitness Award. Her other honors include the National Black Theatre Fest's August Wilson Playwriting Award, a Guggenheim Grant, Lucille Lortel Fellowship and Visiting Research Fellowship at Princeton University. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. She is also an Associate Professor in the Theatre Department at Columbia School of the Arts.