Lynn Nottage's 'Clyde's' is a comedy with great social commentary Feisty comedy is on the menu (Washington Post) in two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottages latest Broadway triumph. Despite his tats and defenses, Jason is a puppy, fully domesticated before the play is half over. People who have seen Sweat will recognize him as one of the perpetrators of a heinous attack on a Colombian American busboy at the climax of that play, also set in Reading. In Lynn Nottages bright new comedy, cooks at a greasy spoon dream of remaking the menu and their lives. Second Stage Theater's production of Lynn Nottage's new play CLYDE'S opens tonight, Tuesday November 23, 2021, at Second Stage's Broadway home, the Hayes Theater (240 W 44th Street at 8th Avenue). It contains adult language and adult themes. This conception of Jason worried me at first. Lynn Nottage's plays include 'Crumbs from the Table of Joy,' 'Fabulation' and 'Intimate Apparel,' for which she was awarded the Francesca Primus Prize and the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award in 2004. Clyde's by Lynn Nottage explores economic stagnation in the US Still, the most interesting people, onstage and in our lives, hold on to a whiff of mystery. CLYDES is a sweet and salty new Broadway comedy from Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Sweat). Clyde's on Broadway Is a Comedic Feast With a Serious Point Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here. Theater Review: Clyde's on Broadway, In the Southern Breeze - Vulture The three other cooks, with their softball crimes, begin to seem a pinch too adorable. 1993: Lynn Nottage makes her professional debut with the Actors ' Theatre of Louisville's production of Poof, a one-act comedy about a woman whose abusive husband spontaneously combusts. "Feisty comedy is on the menu" ( Washington Post) in two . 2017: With longtime director Kate Whoriskey and her husband, the filmmaker Tony Gerber, Nottage pilots This is Reading, a site-specific piece designed to run in the same Pennsylvania town where she set Sweat. Thats the only thing we ever really learnor, at least, think we learnabout Clyde. Lynn Nottage has sometimes been one of them. 2003: Inspired by her grandmothers persistence as a New York City seamstress, Nottage writes Intimate Apparel; the play debuts at Baltimore Center Stage to widespread critical acclaim, and Nottage becomes one of the nations most prominent theatrical figures. The sandwich that they are struggling with is not complete until everyone makes a contribution. The play takes place in Clydes, a truck stop sandwich shop frequented by truckers making the long journey across Pennsylvania. onStage PittsburghCity Theatre Serves a Vital Menu at 'Clyde's' Dramatists Play Service, Inc. In Sweat, a dive bar. On a long stretch of highway, in the middle of here and there, Clydes truck stop diner sizzles with the aroma of possibility and redemption.Between slinging grilled cheese and tuna melts, the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff at Clydes dream of creating the perfect recipe. As their fiery boss cranks up the pressure, and a new staff member rocks the boat, they have to unite to fight back the only way they can: by making the perfect sandwich. Mass Market Paperback. In Kate Whoriskeys brisk and thoroughly satisfying production for Second Stage Theater, we learn that, unlike Oedipus and his mom, people who may have little else nevertheless have choices. 2015: Sweat, a play about economic downturn in Reading, PA, debuts at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; two years later, the play goes on to win Nottage her second Pulitzer. This is supposed to deepen the bonds among them, and, perhaps, to offer a well of complexity not often granted to working-class people chewed up by the system and given a harsh set of choices: eat shit, starve, or go back in. Suddenly, a New York cop remembered a long-ago murder. Nottage says that the story, which is loosely inspired by the life of her great-grandmother, came to her during a watershed moment. In the kitchen of a truck stop diner near Reading, PA, a group of formerly incarcerated cooks work together to get their shot at redemption. Seductive. She speaks about the idea of theatre as a form of archive, an idea she credits to the late George Bass, a teacher who was an influence at Brown University. In Intimate Apparel, the bedroom. It also helps that Takeshi Katas cleverly expanding set, lit for comedy by Christopher Akerlind, allows Whoriskey to hit the ground running and barely pause for 95 minutes. Uzo Aduba as Clyde and Ron Cephas Jones as Montrellous in Lynn Nottages latest play, Clydes, at the Helen Hayes Theater in Manhattan. 1995: Nottage enters the NYC theater scene with Por'Knockers, a political satire that played at the . But they were people who werent seen by popular culture. There were factories and a whole infrastructure revolved around supporting people. Still, the cooks are in purgatory, not hell. Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season Last show I was in, I wouldnt even tell my relatives, Millie says. a one-act comedy about a woman whose abusive husband spontaneously combusts. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice; the first in 2009 for Ruined, and the second in 2017 for Sweat. endobj Montrellous is the king of the groupI would call him a sandwich whisperer, because the other three sandwich chefs cling onto his every word, and an angelic lighting seems to glow whenever he shares his recipe for the perfect sandwich as they are all encouraged to do throughout the 95-minute performance. (It was originally called Floyds until George Floyd was murdered.) 2011: Nottage goes for bright, nuanced, comedy with By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Second Stage), a runaway hit exploring 70 years in the life of a (fictional) Hollywood starlet. My daughter was born and then my mother died, and it shifted my notion of what and who I wanted to write about, she says. That they discover the power of that imagination in the most unlikely way, by making food, is what makes the play funny. Part of my desire as I got older was to amplify some of the beautiful and important and tragic stories that I heard.. I became very interested in the ways that economic stagnation was reshaping the American narrative, she says. Nottage conducted interviews with steelworkers in Reading, Pennsylvania. Were working to restore it. She always wants the sandwiches to come out faster, and she has no patience for the culinary ambition thats growing in the kitchen under her nose. The criminal justice system used to bus people to Reading when they got out because there was an abundance of work, she says. Ratings Friends & Following September 10 - October 9 in the Albert Theatre. At the 2022 Tonys, Nottage is nominated for both Clydes and MJ. In Adubas hilarious and scalding performance, Clyde, wearing a succession of skintight dont-mess-with-me outfits by Jennifer Moeller, is a shape-shifting hellhound, all but breathing fire. $3X2),sDzGX$,W\lX>-;+I+w!^F$^Y)|)CS.fxths (A) delightful new play. NEW YORK With the official opening Tuesday of " Clyde's ," Lynn Nottage's highly entertaining comedy of kitchen nightmares at a Pennsylvania truck stop, Broadway's cup of bracing. <> I found a passport photograph of [my grandmother] with my great-grandmother and sister. He became the foundation for Montrellous who I call the Buddha from the hood. All rights reserved. We are living in Greek times or so you might conclude from the preponderance of Greek tragedies turned out by todays playwrights. Studio Theatre | Clyde's: Thirty Years of Lynn Nottage's Theater Ad Choices. And these distractions and a ghosted date with Letitia cause him to fall off the wagon and begin using drugs again. Shes trying to hold on to her job as she simultaneously tries to secure adequate childcare. Popping up like a demon in a small window between the front and the back of the restaurant, she roars orders and insults; when she emerges, in full glory, among her minions, it is only to exert her fearful, foul-mouthed dominance. the Michael Jackson jukebox musical. The seeds of great stories have appeared from her childhood, part of the terrain of everyday life. "A truck-stop diner is a space of . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> The survey, which counts both plays and musicals but excludes work by Shakespeare and variations on A Christmas Carol (because there are so many productions they would swamp everything else), finds more diversity than in the past: Seven of the 14 most-produced plays are by writers of color, and 10 of the 24 most-produced playwrights are writers of color. He pokes and prods Wiletta, expressing dissatisfaction with her performance as a mother whose son is in big trouble, asking her to justify her characters decisions, not merely to act them out with rote professionalism. CLYDE'S - City Theatre Company CLYDE'S by Lynn Nottage Under the watchful eye of the titular character, Clyde's follows the kitchen staff of a truck stop in a small PA town. Theatrical Outfit 2023 | The Balzer Theater at Herrens | 84 Luckie Street | Atlanta, GA 30303. Clyde is an ex-convict, and so are the people who work for her, a fact that she hangs over their heads like rain in a cloud at every opportunitynobody else is going to hire them, so theyd better submit to her whims, however brutal. 2017: With longtime director Kate Whoriskey and her husband, the filmmaker Tony Gerber, Nottage pilots, a site-specific piece designed to run in the same Pennsylvania town where she set. In the kitchen of the truck stop diner that gives the play its title, the cooks making the sandwiches have all served time. When Montrellous says that sandwiches like his grilled halloumi on home-baked herb focaccia are the most democratic of all foods or that this sandwich is my freedom we see something about his personality, not just the playwright waving semaphore flags. Dominatrix. Crumbs from the Table of Joy and Other Plays: Nottage, Lynn She begins asking questions that the script, and her director, just cant answer. Subscribe to Live Theatre! When that happens, get out of the kitchen! endobj An annual survey, suspended during the pandemic, resumes and finds theaters nationally doing fewer shows and torn between escapism and ambition. 1995: Nottage enters the NYC theater scene with Por'Knockers, a political satire that played at the Vineyard Theatre. Lynn Nottage's Clyde's Is a Hangout Comedy That Packs a Punch EDWARD ALBEES WHOS AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. Clyde's by Lynn Nottage | Goodreads Clydes is a great, fast-paced play that, in addition to providing humor as the crew concoct delicious sandwiches, also brings to light the situations that landed them in prison and rails against the prison system for reasons that the sandwich makers find unjust. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. A playwright and a screenwriter, Nottage is the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. She leans beautifully into the sweetness of the cooks but also, bending the other way, into the sourness of Clyde, for whom Nottage has written great zingers. which follows the ghost of a slaughtered elephant. (The other characters, in this production, are Black and Latino.) Montrellous lets slip that Clyde has fallen into gambling debt, and that the shop is somehow mixed up in the trouble. So is the ability to find light and humour in the darkest situations. 3 0 obj At 'Clyde's' diner, a hero is more than a sandwich in Huntington Clyde's Photo Gallery. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. She does so not because she too was once incarcerated; dont accuse her of a soft heart. It is appropriate for audiences aged teens and up. the play debuts at Baltimore Center Stage to widespread critical acclaim, and Nottage becomes one of the nations most prominent theatrical figures. Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of marginalized people. Led by sandwich sensei Montrellous, can the team juggle customer orders, darkpasts and their boss incessant mind games to avoid having theiraspirations burnt to a crisp? CLYDE'S - Theatrical Outfit As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Nottage crafts a romantic comedy that doubles as an allegory about imperialism in Africa. Starring Uzo Aduba. 84 Luckie St. NW Clyde is a foul-mouthed, scrappy ex-con with an attitude that makes it easy for her to demean and taunt her employeesshe views them as being nobodies because all have done prison time. We dont at first get the story of how Montrellous (Ron Cephas Jones) wound up behind bars, but he is so saintly that Letitia, called Tish, believes it must have been elective. Clyde's is a play by Lynn Nottage that opened on Broadway on November 23, 2021, and closed on January 16, 2022, at the Hayes Theater. In Sweat, a dive bar. The finding that fewer productions are being mounted is troubling, though not surprising artistic directors around the country have been saying that they were ramping back up slowly after the pandemic shutdown because audiences have not come back in prepandemic numbers. They are not merely victims of fate; they can use their moral imagination to resist the Clydes of this world. The Search for Justification in "Clyde's" and "Trouble in Mind" This ritual stayed with her. September 9, 2021 Let's Get Social By Lynn Nottage In this stirring new play from the team of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey ( Ruined, Sweat ), a truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at reclaiming their lives. At home, her mother assembled friends around the kitchen table. Her director, Al Manners (Michael Zegen), fancies himself a social and artistic progressive. Clyde's centres around a truck-stop diner. Clydes is suggested for ages 13 and up. Amazon.com: Clyde's: 9781636700007: Nottage, Lynn: Books vi|IgOUZi3#Q_`njK2YO1t0)lxxQeUX./OmrI@|2eVp&wC>% 8@c !8nvlDux?Q8p2;wpn|?4~!2VL q'pq&+yW ]o f "}Dp\ ^F Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Clydes, which opened on Broadway late last year, featured Edmund Donovan as one of several ex-cons-turned-sandwich-makers. As a result, the statistics about the seasons diversity have been updated in this story. Playwright Lynn Nottage has never looked far for a source of dramatic value. 2 0 obj 'Clyde's': Theater Review - The Hollywood Reporter Update: After publishing its survey results on Friday, American Theater magazine amended its lists to reflect new information. a runaway hit exploring 70 years in the life of a (fictional) Hollywood starlet. After Clydes, the other most popular shows include some crowd-pleasing entertainments the comedy Chicken & Biscuits, a stage adaptation of Clue, the musical Once alongside more challenging fare, like Nottages play Sweat. After Nottage and Gunderson, the most-produced playwrights are Matthew Lpez, August Wilson and Dominique Morisseau. That same year, Second Stage also premieres Crumbs from the Table of Joy, a memory play about teenagers struggling to cope with their mothers death. boxofficer@ardentheatre.org. As the day wears on, Clyde is constantly ringing the bell for sandwich orders to be taken, as she periodically flirts with Jason while wearing suggestive clothing with matching boots. Though its still about dark things, including prison, drugs, homelessness and poverty, it somehow turns them into bright comedy. The systems that control our lives institutional racism, predatory capitalism, the prison-industrial complex seem as powerful and implacable as gods. a play about economic downturn in Reading, PA, debuts at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; two years later, the play goes on to win Nottage her second Pulitzer. It stars Nancy Denis as the diners controlling boss, Clyde, and is directed by Darren Yap. The Goodman is located at 170 N. Dearborn St. Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J., is the Entertainment Editor for the Chicago Crusader. Ensemble presents the Australian premiere of this Tony Award nominated 2021 Broadway play, one that will leave you satisfied long after youve left the theatre. In Clydes, Uzo Aduba plays the formerly incarcerated owner of a sandwich shop. In the process, she encountered a large proportion of people who were formerly incarcerated. Even as the shops mischievous owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the staffers are given purpose and permission to dreamfinding that sometimes a hero is more than a sandwich (New York Times). We are making plans to ensure the health and safety of our audiences, artists, and staff. The lighting, by Christopher Akerlind, tries to indicate emotionwhen Montrellous is rhapsodizing, he gets a fuchsia glowbut nothing that any character says steers the play in a new direction. Nottage writes plays that are peopled by complex characters. Clydes just hit the sweet spot it has a multiracial cast, it addresses issues of incarceration and racial tension, its a comedy, and its really smart, and its by a Pulitzer winner, said Rob Weinert-Kendt, the editor in chief of American Theater and an occasional contributor to The New York Times. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. >H|MF. Clyde's - Arden Theatre Company Lynn Nottage was born in Brooklyn in 1964, the daughter of a school teacher and a child psychologist. 40 N. 2nd Street 2021: Nottage writes the book for MJ, the Michael Jackson jukebox musical. Here, those skills are tossed aside. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. %PDF-1.7 Lynn Nottage has sometimes been one of them. Uzo Aduba: A Force of Nature Touches Down on Broadway in 'Clyde's' Clyde's is a part of a long lineage of Nottage's renowned plays-often directed by Whoriskey-that champion the stories of poor and working-class underdogs. But the life stories come between slapstick riffs on sandwich-making and kitchen etiquettea bunch of well-performed gagsand as a result the play has trouble finding its tone. Yet in Clydes, Nottage does something shrewd with the obvious underlinings that can sometimes make her meticulously researched plays feel didactic. Lynn Nottage's new play, "Clyde's," directed by Kate Whoriskey (at the Helen Hayes), about the staff of a run-down sandwich joint at a truck stop, takes a stark either-or stance regarding. Her two Pulitzer Prizes are for works in which the world and its people are trapped in an abusive relationship. Studio Theatre | Clyde's: "Stay Open": Lynn Nottage & the Value of Surprise What can humans do about fate, these playwrights suggest, but submit to it and hope to preserve the story? Single Tickets Rafael is a considerate co-worker who just wants peace around the workspacewhich can become very heated and nosey at times. People are there for short periods of time to seek sustenance and then they move on. She was a working-class woman who was lost to history because at the time her life [she] wasnt considered worthy of documentation., The cast of Lynn Nottages Intimate Apparel.Credit: Lincoln Center/AP. Creating the perfect sandwich is the shared quest of the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff of Clyde's, a truck stop cafe. 2004: Nottage follows up her success with Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Baltimore Center Stage), a sort of modern-day companion piece to Intimate Apparel. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. 2001: After taking some time away around the birth of her daughter, Nottage returns to the theater with. The employees of Clyde's an unassuming caf sitting on a long stretch of road in Pennsylvania, and the name of Lynn Nottage's new play periodically indulge in a whimsical activity. What is Clyde but a greasy-spoon Satan, the diabolical voice seductively whispering Dont get too high on hope to people trying to escape their past? CLYDE'S by Lynn Nottage - City Theatre Company Flip PDF | AnyFlip Please try again later. Nottage, in an email, said she was pleased the play was finding an audience. . Much of the problem lies with Clyde herself. She rages through the kitchen, spewing just enough bile to get the objects of her tyranny complaining again, but shes never subjected to the kind of scrutiny that makes watching a character worthwhile. Clyde's January 26 - March 12, 2023 By Lynn Nottage Directed by Malika Oyetimein Arcadia Stage Expected Runtime: 90 minutes with no intermission Honorary Producers: Risa and Bob Lavizzo-Mourey Thats the kind of place this is. Among those staging the play are the Arden Theater Company in Philadelphia, the Arkansas Repertory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Center Theater Group in Los Angeles and TheaterWorks Hartford. 2003: Inspired by her grandmothers persistence as a New York City seamstress, Nottage writes. Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J. When she speaks, she moves often within the space of a sentence between gravitas and levity. Clyde's (play) - Wikipedia Which is not to say the choices are easy. Clydes Review: Sometimes a Hero Is More Than Just a Sandwich, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/theater/clydes-review.html. Theres something alien and ineffable about them that cant be reduced to mere facts, or be rationalized by psychology. Wiletta starts out as a jaded veteran, advising a younger actor to laugh at the directors jokes and tell little lies to pad his rsum. which follows the affair between Queen Marie-Therese and Nabo, her African servant. Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter . 2001: After taking some time away around the birth of her daughter, Nottage returns to the theater with Las Meninas (San Jose Repertory Theatre), which follows the affair between Queen Marie-Therese and Nabo, her African servant. Her plays have been produced at theaters throughout the country. BOX OFFICE 202.332.3300ADMINISTRATION 202.232.7267DONATIONS 202.919.3712, MAIN 1501 14th Street NWWashington, DC 20005, MAILING ADDRESSPO Box 73102Washington, DC 20056, BOX OFFICE HOURSMondays ClosedTuesday Thursday, Noon 6:00pm (until 6:30pm when performance scheduled)Friday, Noon 6:00pm (until 7:00pm when performance scheduled)Saturday, Noon 7:00pm (performance days only)Sunday, Noon 6:00pm (performance days only), ARTISTIC DIRECTOR David MuseEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Rebecca Ende Lichtenberg, 1993: Lynn Nottage makes her professional debut with the Actors. CLYDE'S By: Lynn Nottage CHARACTER BREAKDOWN Director: Alex Rodriguez Rehearsal Start Date: July 9, 2023 Production Dates: August 18-September 17, 2023 . WINNER: 4 DRAMA DESK AWARDS NOMINATED: 5 TONY AWARDS, INCLUDING BEST NEW PLAY. Karamu House's five-show 2023-24 season to kick off with Lynn Nottage's Lynn Nottage's Clyde's Is a Hangout Comedy That Packs a Punch From the set to the smell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's latest work satiates audiences' desire for stories about. New York, NY, SM for Poor Yella Rednecks Comprised of formerly incarcerated individuals, the staff come together to find fulfillment both in their lives and in creating the perfect sandwich. The production was directed by Kate Whoriskey and starred Uzo Aduba , Ron Cephas Jones , Edmund Donovan , Reza Salazar, and Kara Young. Jason (Edmund Donovan) is the new guy, initially quiet and sullen, marked up with white-supremacist tattoos. At the 2022 Tonys, Nottage is nominated for both Clydes and MJ. The photographer who claimed to capture the. (The pyrotechnics are by J&M Special Effects.) The point would be much the same, though, if it werent: Sometimes, theres a good reason you cant stand the heat. 2022: Clydes joins MJ on Broadway, while across town at the Met, Nottage collaborates with composer Ricky Ian Gordon to producer the opera version of Intimate Apparel. The American Theater lists are based on a survey of theaters that are members of Theater Communications Group; in the 2019-20 season, respondents reported planning to stage 2,229 full-run shows; this season, even with the first-time addition of audio and streaming shows, as well as productions on Broadway, the count is only 1,298. Even as the shops menacing owner, Clyde, tries to keep them under her thumb, the staff members are given purpose and permission to dream by their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich. In the kitchen of a truck stop diner near Reading, PA, a group of formerly incarcerated cooks work together to get their shot at redemption. Sweat, the 2017 play for which she won her second Pulitzer, revolves around a group of steelworkers grappling with the decline of the American Rust Belt.
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