BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK is Tuesday, November 17 - Saturday, November 21, 2015. We’d love your help. It asks questions about how our words and actions are interpreted by others when we're gone, and it leaves you wondering about the truth. Dukes keeps the center of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark sharp and shining, and of her fellow performers, Simms is there with her, dexterously … A historical look at the treatment of African Americans in the motion picture industry, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a poignant look at things left unsaid behind the scenes. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Production Description Casting "By the Way, Meet Vera Stark" by Lynn Nottage. Block, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Outstanding Director of a Play, Jo Bonney, Outstanding Lead Actress, Sanaa Lathan (winner), Outstanding Costume Design, ESosa (winner), Outstanding Featured Actress, Kimberly Hébert Gregory (nominee), Outstanding Director, Jo Bonney (nominee), Supporting Actress, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, This page was last edited on 5 October 2020, at 09:12. The giddiness of the romp isn’t easy to sustain, but her sneaky cultural critique is delivered with an ingenious wink...Nottage is attuned to the specific hardships of African American actors coveting fame throughout history, and her irony detector can’t help beeping as it surveys all the social progress that has been made. Welcome back. By Lynn Nottage Directed by . "Nottage is one of our finest playwrights, a smart, empathetic, and daring storyteller who tells a story an audience won't expect. BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK.qxd 8/6/2013 3:40 PM Page 4. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark Tickets The Irene Diamond Stage at The Signature Center Signature Theatre presents the first revival of Lynn Nottage's fast-paced and sly satire. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Lynn Nottage plays are uncluttered and make an immediate point; they are funny but also point to race and the way it plays out for actors and their audience. By the Way Meet Vera Stark. Note: All actors must have strong comic timing and abilities. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a 70-year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star...desperately grasping to hold on to her career. A contemporary look at how a factory closing effected people in a blue collar community, Sweat merited its award. Act One explores the complexities that plagued African-American women in the glamorous Hollywood films of the 1930s, and Act Two looks back from the present to evaluate how one African-American actress, Vera Stark, faced those identity challenges. Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of marginalized people. [10], According to Second Stage, "Lynn Nottage draws upon the screwball films of the 1930s to take a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark April 16, 2014 - May 11, 2014. Read 17 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. The themes of stereotyping in Hollywood and the survival instincts of the African American actor are pretty developed, but the most developed theme I see in Nottage’s play is that of Ethnic Identity. "[13], Bob Verini, in his review for Variety of the Geffen Playhouse production, wrote: "Nottage and Bonney seem to lack much appreciation of, or respect for, the Tinseltown milieu...The second half nevertheless proves richer and more satisfying. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a seventy-year journey through the life of a headstrong African-American domestic maid and budding actress named Vera Stark and her relationship with her employer, a white Hollywood star. [3][4][5], The play ran at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles in September 2012, directed by Jo Bonney, starring Sanaa Lathan with Amanda Detmer (Gloria). 10.08.2012 / Santa Monica Mirror ‘By The Way, Meet Vera Stark’ On Stage At The Geffen Playhouse . Product Information THE STORY: In a new comedy from the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Ruined, Lynn Nottage draws upon the screwball films of the 1930s to take a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood. I found the ending with the academic colloquium especially powerful. Previously Nottage also won the Pulitzer for Ruined, and she is earning her place as one of America's leading playwrights today. The structure is beautifully executed, and the text's themes and issues come through loud and clear without being clunky. In 2011, he wrote about our ubiquitous computer culture... "Nottage is one of our finest playwrights, a smart, empathetic and daring storyteller who tells a story an audience won't expect."—. “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” won’t conquer the world the way “Ruined” did after picking up the Pulitzer (and every other significant award) in 2009. Currently in rehearsals to play the role of Gloria Mitchell. I will be "reading" the script for quite a while ; ). To see what your friends thought of this book, Last year as part of my Pulitzer challenge I read Sweat by Lynn Nottage. All shows at 7:30pm plus a 2pm Matinee on November 21 Vera Stark, an African-American Vaudeville actor, lives with her friends in Hollywood in the 1930s. I loved it, and I'm eager to read it again. By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, Nottage’s razor-sharp satire about the struggle of black actresses in the movie industry, now being given a crackling revival at Signature Theaters. Traveling through time from the 1930s, to the 1970s, to the present day, Meet Vera Stark cleverly shows the lives of African American actress and how opportunities changed, and how they didn't. But Meet Vera Stark is about African-American women using their wiles to … Walter Isaacson, it’s safe to say, is not afraid of tackling the really big topics. Lynn Nottage’s new play, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, enjoyed an extended run Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre (Lily Award, Drama Desk Nomination).It can be seen this upcoming season at The Geffen Playhouse and Goodman Theatre. Lynn Nottage is utterly brilliant, and I should have been reading her work long before now. Previously Nottage also won the Pulitzer for Ruined, and she is earning her place as one of America's leading playwrights today. Quick read. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark was presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., [9], The play was produced Off-Broadway at Signature Theatre in New York City from January 29, 2019 to March 10, 2019. This play is an impressive juggling act, as Nottage balances scenes from African-American actress Vera Stark's career with a scholarly retrospective on her work. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a 70-year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress, and … It speaks powerfully to the long history of marginalization within the culture and only just fails to pull everything together with a startling revelation near the end. In this regard, she’s an equal opportunity satirist, sending up the performing seal in all of us. As directed by Ms. Bonney, the acting swings wildly between proper characterization and caricature...More enjoyably, the second act includes a clip from the film that Vera finally made (as imagined by Tony Gerber) and the priceless 1973 talk-show sequence, in which Mr. Garrison is perfect as a fatuous Merv Griffin-esque host. I can't wait to see what work is still yet to come. But she’s also aware of how anyone in the public eye is forced to sell a part of his or her soul. Variety Review: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark . This text is so rich. Again, she is fictional. 7 BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK ACT ONE Scene 1 A living room. Always a pleasure to read a new Nottage play, and this one feels much different than her other works. By Lynn Nottage Directed by Missy Koonce The Levin Stage. She is a professor of Playwriting at Columbia University. 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. Hidden Gems: Virtually Unknown African-American Historical Fiction & Classics, Famed Biographer Walter Isaacson on Gene Editing, Science, and Good Books. Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and directed by Kamilah Forbes. BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK by LYNN NOTTAGE Directed by Steve Ray. By the Way Meets Vera Stark opens in the University Hall Theatre on Thursday, April 11 for seven performances, and tickets are on sale now. [6][7][8], The play was produced at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, from April 27 to June 2, 2013. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I loved it, and I'm eag. Hosted by actor/director Miriam Randolph, it will be held the first Tuesday and third Sunday of the month. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a quicksilver construction, blending disparate elements of genre parody, academic cant, broad humor, social comment … Saw the Goodman production of this play, and now have finally read it. Nottage received the 2010 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for this play. “There’s something really interesting about the time we’re living in and how people are taking charge of their identity and reclaiming their place in … Hilarious and poignant, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark paints a vivid picture of the cultural climate that shaped this mysterious screen queen—and wonders who, in another time, she might have been. Deco stylish. A hi. Directed by Jo Bonney, the cast featured Sanaa Lathan as Vera Stark, Stephanie J. I recently saw some reviews for another of Nottage's plays By the Way, Meet Vera Stark and decided that it would be a worthy inclusion in my African American History Month lineup. "[5], Charles McNulty, in his review of the Off-Broadway production for The Los Angeles Times, wrote: "The subject of racism in the film industry might not seem like an ideal fit for a comedy with a screwball twist, but Nottage is too clever to preach and too much a fan of the cinematic era she’s writing about not to entertain. The first act takes place entirely in 1933 and is the kind of screwball comedy about actors trying to get into film that evokes the very best of Noel Coward. I will confess to being a little obsessed with maid–turned–movie star Vera Stark, the fictional subject of Lynn Nottage’s 2011 play By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, now being revived at off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre. “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” premiered at Second Stage, then directed by Jo Bonney and starring Sanaa Lathan. Very interesting play and definitely check out the websites associated with it. By Ben Brantley May 9, 2011 A biting wind of realism, blowing both hot and cold, sweeps into the second act of “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark,” the … A little taste of success sets the stage for decades of "scholarly" examination of her career and its impact on the history of film. It asks questions about how our words and actions are interpreted by others when we're gone, and it leaves you wondering about the truth. Be the first to ask a question about By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. The play concerns an African-American maid in the 1930s who becomes a film star. Production Description. Start by marking “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Seeking Equity actors for various roles in "By the Way, Meet Vera Stark." Its concerns are not exactly dated. But there's more to Vera's story than perseverance and hard work. Last year as part of my Pulitzer challenge I read Sweat by Lynn Nottage. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a play by Lynn Nottage. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark: Theater Review. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage at Signature Directed by Kamilah Forbes, Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage’s sly satire takes you on a journey through Vera’s life … 09.27.2012 / Variety . For starters three academics, hilariously doubled by Carroll, Gregory and Dandridge, practically come to blows at a modern-day seminar on the meaning of a career that ended in lousy roles, humiliation and eventual disappearance...All the pieces of Nottage’s puzzle never quite click together, and it’s rather ironic for a work whose theme is personal and professional authenticity to keep bringing in so much that’s downright bogus. I recently saw some reviews for another of Nottage's plays By the Way, Meet Vera Stark and decided that it would be a worthy inclusion in my African American History Month lineup. Well worth reading and with some juicy comic dialog that would play very well. pleasent read but like every play, it says so much more underneath. But none of them come close to matching the fully inhabited, spiky ambivalence of Ms. Lathan as she appears in the second half...But much of the comic material here feels stereotyped in itself, bringing to mind lively but formulaic sketch routines from satiric variety shows like In Living Color. In By The Way, Meet Vera Stark now at The Pershing Square Signature Center she is revisiting a tale previously produced by Second Stage in 2011. [12], Ben Brantley, reviewing the Off-Broadway production for The New York Times, wrote: "There are moments throughout Vera Stark, directed by Jo Bonney, that provoke hearty laughter and troubling thoughts at the same time. A must read for classic Hollywood fans, and just a genuinely great idea for a play. A delightful and complex play. January 15th 2013 We don't feel manipulated and, This text is so rich. Hollywood, 1933. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at the Geffen Playhouse . Gloria Mitchell, 28, “white” starlet, in a dressing gown, lies across the couch nursing a healthy glass of gin. Now the company is mounting “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark,” an even more original play that was first produced eight years ago by Second Stage Theatre. This is exactly my sort of thing. Actors will read from scripts; there are no costumes or scenery pieces. I absolutely devoured this play, and I can't think of enough superlatives to describe it. by Theatre Communications Group. Refresh and try again. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark book. The play concerns an African-American maid in the 1930s who becomes a film star. "[11], The title character of Vera Stark is based in part on black actress Theresa Harris. An interesting play about the complexities of passing, the success of black actresses, and academic perception of the film industry. Onyx Script Reading Series focuses on scripts that illuminate black voices. It is definitely worth a read. "[8], "Nottage's 'By the Way, Meet Vera Stark' Gets Extra Week at Off-Broadway's Second Stage", "Review. Meet Vera Stark was finished in 2013. Review to follow... My son had to read this play for one of his college classes, and then went to see it performed live. Block (Gloria Mitchell), Daniel Breaker (Leroy Barksdale/Herb Forrester), David Garrison (Fredrick Slasvick/Brad Donovan), Kimberly Hebert Gregory (Lottie/Carmen Levy-Green), Kevin Isola (Maximillian Von Oster/Brian Blaze), and Karen Olivo (Anne Mae/Afua Assata Ejob). June 4-29, 2014. Act One explores the complexities that plagued African-American women in the glamorous Hollywood films of the 1930s, and Act Two looks back from the present to evaluate how one African-American actress, Vera Stark, faced those identity challenges. 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